Shots Fired
by MoxiesdenLovesShandy
Summary: This story picks up right where "Being Bullied" leaves off. The team is trying to solve the murder that they were called out to when Sharon, Andy, and Matthew were on vacation. The team tries to solve the case but they are hitting some dead ends. One lead may lead the team into a possible shoot out. Meanwhile, Matthew is working on his latest school project with the help from Andy.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Here is my latest story that picks up right where "Being Bullied" leaves off. Enjoy and thank you!

Chapter 1

Sharon stood in the middle of the RACR room, listening to Lieutenant Tao explain the crime scene as she and Andy watched the video that Buzz took of the scene this morning. "So, Wally Parker, Randy's partner, called 911 when, exactly?" Sharon asked Mike as she continued to watch the video. "Um, he called at 3 o'clock this morning, Captain" Mike answered her as he looked through his notes. "If Kendall says that this Randy guy was dead for 10 hours before you guys got there, then where was Wally Parker that whole time?" Andy asked them as he turned around to look at the team.

"He was out of town and his flight landed at 2 am at LAX, Lieutenant" Julio stated to him as he read his notes. "Hmm, convenient that the partner was out of town" Andy said as he shook his head. "Where was Wally Parker before he flew in?" Sharon asked. "New York City, ma'am. He flew on Jet Blue flight 2023 from JFK, it landed a little after 2 this morning" Julio stated to Sharon. Sharon walked over to where Julio was sitting and looked at the printout of the passenger record from the plane. "So, his partner was in New York City when Randy got murdered" Sharon said. "Did we confirm that he was in New York?" she asked. "Yes, he stated that he saw a Broadway play with his friends Maurice and Gill, and when we contacted them, they confirmed his story" Amy said to Sharon.

"Okay, so we can rule out the partner, Wally Parker, for now" Sharon said to the team. "Was Randy Grey involved in any type of illegal activities?" Sharon asked as she fingered through the financial report on him. "Financials look to be ordinary, no big cash deposits or anything out of the ordinary like that" Mike answered her. Sharon thought for a minute before turning around. "Buzz, can you show me the bedroom scene again" Sharon asked Buzz and Buzz rewound the video and then played it at the scene that she requested. "Pause it right there" Sharon said as she looked at the screen. The scene was paused at the image of the writing that was located on the wall. "Are we sure this was written in blood?" Sharon asked them.

"We're still waiting for the forensics report to come to us, but I'm pretty sure it is" Mike answered her. Provenza's phone rang and he answered it. "Thank you" he said hanging it up. "That was Doctor Morales, he's ready for us to join him for a viewing of the body" Provenza said to Sharon and the rest of them. Sharon nodded and then returned back to the Murder Room with Andy and the rest of the team. "Amy and Julio, go to where Randy Grey worked, find out if you can discover anything else on our victim from his workplace" Sharon said to them. "Yes Captain" Amy said to her and then she and Julio left the office. "Mike, see what you can find from SID's preliminary report" Sharon said to Mike and he nodded as he sat down at his desk.

Sharon walked over to Andy's desk with him. "I want to go down to the Morgue, but I don't want to leave him up here by himself" Sharon said to Andy as she looked into her office to see Matthew. Andy was about to say something when Buzz interrupted him. "I'm sorry to interrupt Captain but if you want, I could keep my eye on Matthew if you and the Lieutenant want to go to the Morgue" Buzz said to Sharon and Andy. "Are you sure, Buzz? Cause I can stay here with him" Andy said to Buzz. "I'm sure Lieutenant, it wouldn't be a problem" Buzz said to Andy and then looked at Sharon. "Okay, let me just tell him where we'll be" Sharon said and then entered her office.

Matthew looked up from reading his book when Sharon entered her office. He was sitting behind her desk and he kind of enjoyed it. "Do you need your desk, Mommy?" he said to her. "No, sweetie, I don't need my desk at this moment" Sharon said and then cleared her throat before speaking again. "Um, Daddy and I have to go somewhere to look at something, we should be back in an hour, but Buzz is going to stay here with you" Sharon said to Matthew as Matthew looked over Sharon's shoulder at Buzz who was standing next to Andy outside her office. "Okay, but does he like Batman?" Matthew asked Sharon. "Oh, well, I'm not really sure. You can ask him if he does, Matthew" Sharon said as she turned around and waved for Buzz to join them.

Buzz entered Sharon's office. "Buzz, Matthew has a question he wants to ask you" Sharon said to Buzz and then nodded at Matthew. "Do you like Batman?" Matthew asked him. "Hmm, well Matthew, I do like reading about Batman. When I was a little kid, growing up, I read a lot of comic books, and one of them happened to be Batman" Buzz said to Matthew and Matthew smiled. Sharon was grateful that Buzz was going to watch Matthew for them. Sharon left the two of them to the discussion of Batman and joined Andy outside her office. "Okay, let's go" Sharon said to Andy and Provenza as she walked out of the office.

Sharon and her two Lieutenants were stopped in the hallway on the way to the elevators by Chief Howard. "Captain, I wasn't expecting you back here until tomorrow" Chief Howard said. "Yes, well, my team caught a case and we were headed back home anyway today, I thought I would stop here to see the progression" Sharon said to Chief Howard. "Hmm, well I will change your vacation request to reflect you being here now" Chief Howard said to Sharon. "Where's Matthew at?" he asked them. "He's in my office right now having a Batman discussion with Buzz" Sharon said to him. "Ah, okay. Well I need to head back to my office, Chief Pope wants to discuss something" Chief Howard said to them and then walked back to his office.

"What do you think the Pope wants to discuss with him?" Provenza asked Sharon and Andy as they waited for the elevator. "Who knows" Andy said as the elevator doors opened and the three of them stepped inside. "Maybe it has to do with who the new Chief will be" Provenza said as he glanced at Sharon. Sharon looked at Provenza. "I don't know anything, Lieutenant" Sharon said to Provenza as she shook her head. Provenza pouted as he stood there in the elevator. "Well, I'm sure we will find out sooner or later what that meeting is about" Provenza said as they stepped out of the elevator and down the corridor. "Why do you care so much about that meeting?" Andy asked him as Sharon walked ahead of them. Sharon stopped to gown up before she waited outside the examination room. Provenza and Andy did the same.

Doctor Morales exited the room and held the door open for the three of them to enter. "Captain, Lieutenant, back so soon from your trip to Spring Training?" Doctor Morales stated to them as they walked inside the room and the door closed behind them. "Yeah, well Provenza here called at 5 in the morning waking us up with this murder case, so naturally we came back to see, even for a half a day" Andy said to Doctor Morales as he walked closer to the body that was on the table. "Okay, well Mister Grey here died from blunt force trauma to the back of the head" Doctor Morales stated to them as he showed them the back of Randy Grey's head.

Doctor Morales then walked over to show them the x-ray. "If you see here, this line going across, it was caused by the book end as he was hit with it. The impact of it caused the severing of the spinal cord here" Doctor Morales said as he pointed to the x-ray. "So Randy Grey never saw it coming?" Andy asked. "No, your victim was taken by surprise. I did not find any defensive wounds on him" Doctor Morales said to them. "So, Doctor, once he was hit in the back of the head with the book end" Sharon started to ask Doctor Morales. "Hey never felt anything after the initial blow to the head" Doctor Morales stated and Sharon nodded. She glanced over at Andy and Provenza. "Do we know how tall the suspect had to be in order to hit the right angle?" Sharon asked Doctor Morales.

Doctor Morales looked at the body before answering. "Well, judging by how tall Mister Grey is, I would say your suspect is the same height as him if not taller" Doctor Morales answered. "So our suspect could be anywhere from 6 feet tall to" Andy started to say. "about 6 and a half feet tall, I don't think they are much taller than that" Doctor Morales said. "Thank you Doctor" Sharon said as she exited the examination room with Andy and Provenza following her outside.

Andy glanced at his watch and saw that it was closer to 3 o'clock in the afternoon. He walked over to be closer to Sharon as they waited for the elevator to take them back up to their floor. "Look, I think the team can handle this for the rest of the day" Andy said to Sharon and then glanced at Provenza, giving him a knowing look to jump in. "Ah, yes Captain. We can handle this, if you want to leave and salvage the rest of your vacation day" Provenza said to Sharon as they stepped in the elevator. Sharon looked at Provenza and then looked at Andy. "We'll leave at 5 o'clock today. I want to see if Amy and Julio bring any new information back with them" Sharon said to them. Andy sighed and looked disappointed. He was hoping that Sharon and him could spend some alone time together before they got back into work mode. They exited the elevator when it reached the ninth floor and proceeded back to the Murder Room.

Sharon walked back in to the Murder Room. "Mike, did you find anything on the report from SID that is useful right now?" Sharon asked him as she walked over to where he was sitting at his desk, glancing briefly at Matthew and Buzz in her office before turning her attention back at Mike. "Ah, yes Captain. The blood that was found on the walls matched our victim's blood" Mike said as he looked at Sharon. "Are we any closer to finding a suspect in this?" she asked him. "No Captain" Mike answered as Sharon walked away and headed towards her office.

When she entered her office, Buzz and Matthew were having a discussion on who is braver, Batman or Superman. Buzz and Matthew both looked at Sharon as she entered. "Don't stop on my account. I was just checking in to see how you were" she said to them. "Mommy?" Matthew said. "Yes, sweetheart?" Sharon said. "Are you and Daddy almost done here?" Matthew asked her. Sharon looked at Matthew and sighed. "Maybe another hour sweetie and then we will go home" Sharon said to Matthew. "Thank you Buzz for staying in here with him" Sharon said to Buzz as she walked out of her office with Buzz. "Oh, not a problem Captain" Buzz said as he returned to his desk.

Julio and Amy returned a while later to the Murder Room. "We spoke to Randy Grey's supervisor and he said that everybody liked Randy. He didn't have any enemies" Amy said to the team as they gathered around the Murder Board. "Was there something in particular that Randy was currently working on?" Sharon asked them. "His supervisor said that he handled their high risk accounts" Julio stated. "Meaning what, exactly?" Provenza asked. "Meaning, sir, that he dealt with their higher end investors" Julio answered. "Higher end investors, like who?" Andy asked. "Mostly CEOs of different companies, millionaires, that sort of cliental sir" Julio said to Andy and then turned around to face the board.

"So, what, this guy holds out on a return for some millionaire and that person doesn't like it so they kill him? That doesn't make sense" Andy said to the team. "Andy, you make a good point. Was our victim possibly involved in a Ponzi scheme?" Sharon stated to the team. "We would have to look at all of his financials in order to see that, Captain" Mike said to Sharon. "That could take days to track down" he added. "Let's get on that and also look into Wally Parker's financials as well" Sharon said as she started to walk back to her office.

Sharon smiled as she looked at Matthew when she walked in to her office. "Why don't you start packing up, give me and Daddy about ten more minutes okay?" Sharon said to Matthew. "Okay!" Matthew said as he got up from her seat and started to put things back into his backpack. Sharon sat down at her desk and gathered some information about this case. Provenza then knocked on her door and entered when she spoke. "Captain, I was just wondering if the team could leave a little early today since we were called out early this morning" Provenza said as he watched Matthew pack up his backpack. "Whatever you want, Lieutenant" Sharon said as she looked up at him. Provenza stood in front of her. "Technically, you were in charge today until I came back" Sharon added. Provenza looked at her and then nodded. "Of course, Captain" Provenza said and then started to retreat out of her office. "Have a good night" He said to her as he left her office. "You too, Lieutenant" Sharon said and then she stood up from her desk and walked over to where Matthew was at the table in her office.

"Ready to go home?" Sharon asked Matthew and Matthew nodded. Sharon then walked out of her office towards Andy's desk. Matthew followed her. Andy was sitting at his desk, reading over one of the reports on Randy Grey's finances that they had printed out. "Andy, are you ready to go home?" Sharon asked him as Andy looked up at her approaching. "Uh, yeah" Andy said as he gathered the report and placed it in a folder. He then placed the folder in his desk drawer and locked it. He smiled at Sharon and then followed both of them out towards the hallway. "Everyone, enjoy your night" Sharon said to her team as she walked out of the office.

Julio, Amy, Buzz, and Mike all looked over in the direction of Provenza who was sitting at his desk. "I asked her earlier if we could leave early and she said since I was technically in charge today, that it would be my decision to let us go early" Provenza said to everyone. They all looked at each other, waiting for what Provenza was going to say next. "So" Julio said. "So, since we all had an early start to our day and it looks like this case is going to be with us for a while, you all can go home" Provenza said to them. "Thank you sir" Julio said to Provenza.

As Sharon, Andy, and Matthew got down to their car, Matthew ran a little ahead of them. Andy unlocked the car and Matthew quickly got inside the car. "Someone's eager to get home" Andy said to Sharon as they walked. "Hmm, I think someone else might be a little eager as well" Sharon said to Andy as she smiled at him. He smiled back at her. "Can you blame me? I missed Moxie too!" Andy said to Sharon as he opened her car door for her. She slapped her hand against his arm as she stood there looking at him. "Ouch! Hey!" Andy said to her as he rubbed his arm where she hit him. Sharon looked at him and he smiled at her. "I'm always eager to get you alone, Mrs. Flynn" Andy said in a low, husky voice as he leaned in and kissed Sharon. Sharon smiled when they broke apart from the kiss and then sat in the car.

Andy then drove them home, fighting the LA traffic that was starting to form up again. When they arrived at their house, Matthew got out of the car first and grabbed his backpack, along with the blanket that was in the car and started towards the back door of the house. "Matthew! Wait for us!" Sharon called out to him as she stepped towards the back of the car to help with the suitcases. "Go, I've got this" Andy told Sharon as he grabbed her hand and looked at her. Sharon looked at him, grabbed one of the suitcases, and headed after Matthew who, by this time, was already at the back door of the house. As she got closer, she could hear Moxie barking.

Sharon unlocked the back door to be greeted by Moxie, who was very excited that they were home now. Matthew ran up to him and gave him a hug. "Moxie! I've missed you" Matthew said to the dog as he made his way further into the house. Sharon then followed the two in to the kitchen, where she placed her suitcase by the island. Andy then came in behind them, carrying two suitcases and two small bags. He placed them next to Sharon's suitcase. "Is that everything?" Sharon said to Andy. "I just have the cooler left" Andy said to her and then he turned around and went back outside to the car.

Sharon went through the mail that Rusty had picked up for them and left on the island counter when Andy came back in the house carrying the cooler. He placed the cooler next to the sink and started to empty it. "Matthew, could you bring your bag upstairs to your room?" Sharon asked him. He looked up from playing with Moxie. "Okay" he said as he laughed because Moxie wouldn't let him go. "Come on Moxie, you come with me" Matthew said as he stood up, grabbed his suitcase, and went upstairs. Moxie bounding up the stairs behind him.

Sharon then turned her attention to Andy who was still at the sink. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling herself close to him as she laid her head against his back. She let out a sigh. Andy turned around in her arms and caressed her face with his hands. They looked deeply in each other's eyes and Andy leaned down to kiss Sharon. "I want you" he said to her. "I know" she said, catching her breath after their kiss. "I want you too, but we're going to have to wait, at least until he goes to bed" she said to him as their foreheads met and he caressed her arms. Sharon was playing with the buttons on Andy's shirt when Matthew came back downstairs with Moxie.

Sharon broke the embrace they were sharing and started to get dinner ready for the three of them. Andy walked over to the bag that was sitting on top of the island. He was trying to think of anything else besides Sharon at that moment. "Matthew, looks like this is your solar system model kit" Andy said as he looked through the bag and pulled it out. Matthew looked over at Andy and joined him at the island. "Why don't we go into the dining room, and start this while Mom starts dinner" Andy said to Matthew as the two of them started to head to the dining room. Andy glanced back at Sharon who blew him a kiss and smiled. Andy smiled back and then proceeded with Matthew to the dining room.

After Matthew took everything out of the kit and laid it down on the dining room table, Andy was looking at the items. "You need some sort of base for all of this" he said to Matthew as Matthew looked at the items. The kit had all of the planets, labels, paint, and a booklet to go with everything. "I may have something in the basement that we could use for your base" Andy said to Matthew as Matthew looked at him. "Come on, let's go see" Andy said as they made their way down the basement. Moxie followed them down there.

Andy had set up his workshop down there after they had moved in to the house last year. There was a workbench, along with cabinets, and any kind of tool you could imagine. Andy was looking through the cardboard sheets, and poster board, until he found what he was looking for. Andy pulled out a peg board and showed it to Matthew. "This should make you model sturdy, and then we'll place a piece of poster board on top of it and paint it black, with white specs on it for stars" Andy said to Matthew as he placed the peg board on his workbench. Matthew was right by Andy's side watching him. "So, we just place it like this and secure it with the glue here" Andy said to Matthew as he showed him what he was doing.

Andy then looked around at the different paints he had on the shelves and found a spray can of black paint. "Come on, let's go outside and spray it" he told Matthew as he handed the spray can to Matthew while he carried the peg board/poster board combination. Moxie followed them upstairs. They walked through the kitchen towards the back door. "Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes" Sharon said to them as they passed through. She smiled as she watched the two work on the project together. It warmed Sharon's heart to know that Andy was willing to help Matthew with his school project. She knew that Andy would do anything for that kid, he told her himself that many times since fostering him and then adopting him.

Andy and Matthew made their way to the garage where Andy placed two saw horses up and laid the poster board down on top of them. Moxie was in the yard, watching them from there as Andy didn't want the dog in the garage when they spray painted the board. Andy placed his safety glasses on and gave a pair of safety googles to Matthew for him to wear. They had plenty of ventilation with the doors open. Andy then handed Matthew a mask to wear and he wore one too. He had Matthew stand back a little bit and Andy shook the spray can. He then sprayed the poster board with the black paint, making sure that all the areas were covered.

"Okay, we need to let this dry now, overnight" Andy said to Matthew as he took his mask off. He then placed the safety glasses and goggles in the place where he got them. He moved the poster board to one side of the garage and picked up the drop cloth that he had on the ground. "All right, let's go back inside, and we can start to paint the planets before dinner is ready" Andy told Matthew as they went back in the house.

They were sitting in the dining room when Sharon stopped by to see how they were doing. "Dinner will be ready in five minutes, so can you boys go wash up" Sharon said to the two of them. Matthew placed his paintbrush down on the newspaper that was covering the table and then headed to the bathroom to wash his hands. Sharon kissed Andy. "How's it going?" she asked him. "I think it's going well, we painted the base for his model, which is drying in the garage. This will be done by Wednesday for sure, barring anything else happening with this case we have now" Andy said to her as he stood up. He leaned down to kiss her. "Go wash up too" she said after the kiss ended as she patted him on his arm. She then headed back to the kitchen as the timer went off.

After they ate dinner and the kitchen was cleaned up, Sharon retreated to the den to look over some things she had brought home regarding their latest case. Andy and Matthew returned to the dining room to continue working on the solar system project. Matthew was painting Mercury while Andy was trying to decide what they could use on the poster board to display the planets. Andy decided that if he cut metal clothes hangers into different lengths, then that could depict how far away the planets are from the sun. While Matthew was painting, Andy stood up and walked over to the den. "Do we have any metal clothes hangers that we are not using?" Andy asked Sharon as he stood in the doorway.

Sharon looked up at him from her reading. "Yes, there are some in our closet, why?" she said to him. "I need them for this project" Andy said to her as he walked over to join her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and started to massage them. "How's Matthew doing with the project?" she asked him as she was enjoying the massage he was giving her at the moment. "He's painting Mercury right now" Andy said as he leaned down and kissed her neck. "Is it bed time for him yet?" he asked her and she started to smile. "It could be" she said as she glanced at the clock in the room. "Dad?!" Matthew called out to Andy and Andy closed his eyes. "I'll be right there" he called out to Matthew as he continued to kiss Sharon's neck. "Go, see what he wants. I'm finishing up here and then we can head upstairs" Sharon said to him and Andy moved away from Sharon, reluctantly, and went to see what Matthew needed.

"What's up?" Andy said to Matthew as he walked back in to the dining room. "I finished Mercury, but how is it supposed to dry?" Matthew said as he held up the tiny planet that he just painted. Andy thought about it. "Oh, I have an idea" he said as he went in to the kitchen and found the box of toothpicks that were in the cabinet and brought them back to the dining room. "We will place it on a toothpick and then stick the toothpick in the carton, like this" Andy said as he showed Matthew what to do. Andy looked at the planet that Matthew painted. "That looks really good Matthew" he said. Matthew was going to start on painting Venus but before he could do so, Andy stopped him. "It's getting late, so why don't we clean up here. We can leave the supplies here on the table, but cover the tiny paints up" Andy said to him and Matthew was disappointed. Andy picked up on it. "Hey, we will continue the project tomorrow night, okay?" Andy said to Matthew. "Okay" Matthew said quietly.

Matthew yawned as he got up from the table. "Come on buddy, you're getting tired" Andy said to him. "No, I'm not tired" Matthew said as he yawned again. They walked to the stairs. "Go up and get ready for bed. We'll be right there to tuck you in" Andy said to Matthew. Matthew then slowly walked up the stairs and went to his bedroom. Moxie followed him up there. Andy then turned to the den to see Sharon sitting there watching him. He smiled and she smiled back at him. "Let me just make sure everything is locked up down here and then I'll meet you upstairs to tuck him in for the night" Andy said to her as he made his way to the back of the house.

Sharon closed up her work in the den and then turned the light off in there. She made her way upstairs and checked in on Matthew. He was currently in his bathroom so Sharon went to his room, and placed his wolf and teddy bear on his bed. She then pulled back the covers. Matthew came back in to his room and saw Sharon was there sitting on his bed. "Did you brush your teeth?" Sharon asked him as he brought his clothes back to place in the hamper. Matthew shook his head and then went back to his bathroom to brush his teeth. Moxie followed Matthew back to the bathroom and when Matthew was done, he followed Matthew back to his room.

Moxie jumped on the bed and settled down at the foot of it as Matthew climbed into bed. Sharon pulled the covers up around him as he held onto his wolf. Andy joined them in his room after he made sure everything was locked up for the night. "Good night buddy" Andy said to Matthew. "Good night, I had a great time this weekend" Matthew said. "I'm glad you did, sweetie" Sharon said to him and kissed him good night. They then walked out of his room, closing the door behind them. Sharon grabbed Andy's hand in the hallway and lead them over to their room.

With the door closed, Andy began undressing Sharon and she did the same to him as she unbuttoned his shirt, one button at a time. Andy ran his hands through her hair and down her back. He slipped her shirt off and she did the same. Once they were undressed, Andy maneuvered Sharon over to their bed and they laid down. "I love you" he told her as he continued to kiss her lips and neck. "I love you too" she whispered back to him as she held him close to her. They continued to caress each other and held each other tightly as they made love to one another.

As the two of them laid in bed, Andy holding Sharon close to him as he gently ran his fingers up and down her back, Sharon thought back to the nightmare she had in the car. She worried about him, more so now than ever before. 'It was just a dream' she told herself in her head and relaxed into his embrace. "You okay?" Andy whispered to her as he felt a shift in her body. "Perfect" she said to him as she kissed his chest. Andy knew something bothered her and he also knew she would tell him when she was ready. She then kissed him passionately on his lips and shifted her body to lay fully on top of him. "I missed you" she said to him. "I missed you too, Sharon" he said to her as he held her gently on top of him. "Don't ever leave me" she said as she caressed his chest in between kisses. "I won't" he said to her as he pulled her head down and kissed her lips.

They made love for a second time that night and afterwards, they were both content holding each other close as they drifted off to sleep.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 2

The next morning, Andy woke up to Sharon staring at him. She was propped up on her left side and their legs were still tangled. "Good morning" she said to him in a whisper as she leaned down and kissed him. "Morning" he said to her as they broke apart. "What time is it?" Andy asked her. "five-ish" she said to him as she ran her hand down his arm. Andy grunted as she did that. "How long have you been up?" he said to her as he reached for her and pulled her over to him. "Hmm, a couple of hours" Sharon said to him as she laid on top of him. "Sweetheart, what's got you not being able to sleep?" Andy said as he rubbed her back with his hands. "I don't know. I guess I'm coming off of our vacation high and we're getting thrown right into a case to solve" Sharon started telling Andy.

"Weren't you the one yesterday saying that we can stop in and see how far along the team is with the case?" Andy said to her as she laid there. "Hmm, what was I thinking?" she laughed into his chest and then settled her head in the crook of his neck. Just then, the two of them heard a noise coming from downstairs. "What was that?" Sharon asked Andy as she moved off of him. "I don't know" Andy said as he started to get up from their bed. Andy put his sweatpants on and threw on a t-shirt. "You stay here" he said to Sharon.

When Andy walked out in to the hallway, he saw that Matthew's door to his room was open. Andy peeked inside but Matthew wasn't in his room. Andy started to panic. "Matthew!" he called out which alerted Sharon. She quickly threw on some clothes. Andy made his way to the stairs and saw the lights were on downstairs. He descended the stairs quickly. "Matthew?" he called out again as he made his way to the dining room. He peeked inside and saw Matthew sitting at the dining room table, working on his solar system project. Moxie was laying down by his chair. Sharon joined Andy in the doorway.

"Matthew?" Andy said again to him and this time he looked up, a little startled. "What are you doing down here?" Andy asked him as he walked towards the table. "Sorry, I wanted to work on this some more" Matthew said. "Well, it's super early in the morning" Andy said to him as Matthew continued to paint Venus. "How long have you been down here, sweetie?" Sharon asked Matthew. "I don't know. I just came down maybe 30 minutes ago" Matthew said to them. "Am I in trouble?" Matthew said to them as he looked up at Sharon and Andy. "No, you're not in trouble. But, next time, if you want to work on your project and it's super early, wake one of us, okay? So we know where you are" Andy said to him and Matthew nodded his head.

Andy then sat down at the table and stayed with Matthew while Sharon went back upstairs to get ready for the day. She decided that she would take a long, hot shower to start off with. She chose her clothes that she was going to wear and then proceeded to step into the shower. The hot water felt good on her muscles as she washed herself. The massage she had at the hotel they stayed at in Arizona was nice and it relaxed her, but yesterday her muscles had tensed up again while at work. Between this new case and the battle for the new chief position, Sharon felt tense again. A smile was brought to her face when she remembered how Andy was trying to help her relax last night.

She was daydreaming when she heard someone walk into the bathroom and that brought her back to the now. She opened the shower stall glass door and peeked outside to see Andy standing there looking at the mirror in front of the vanity. He was looking at the cut he had sustained in the parking lot in Arizona. It was healing up nicely as he turned his head to get a better look in the mirror. "Everything okay with Matthew?" she called out to him. He turned around to see her peeking through the glass door and smiled. "Yes, we are both up here now" he said to her as he moved closer to the shower door. She opened it further and he stepped inside, joining her. She kissed him. "I'll leave you to wash up" she said to him as they broke apart. Andy groaned as Sharon exited the shower, leaving him inside by himself. "You wicked woman" Andy said after her. Sharon turned around, having wrapped a towel around her and smiled at Andy. Andy sighed and shook his head, as he continued to stand underneath the water spray.

A little while later, Matthew stood at the doorway into Sharon and Andy's room and saw Sharon sitting on the chair in the corner of the room, reading a book. She was already dressed and was waiting for Andy to come out of the bathroom. Matthew knocked on the open door. Sharon looked up from the book she was reading and saw Matthew standing there, ready for school. "Come in Matthew" Sharon said as she watched him enter their room. "Can I go back downstairs and work on my project till you and Dad come down?" Matthew asked Sharon. Sharon paused a minute before answering him. "Sure, but don't get any paint on your school shirt" Sharon said to him and then patted him on his shoulder as he turned around to leave.

Matthew ran down the stairs with Moxie following him and went back to the dining room, he would have about a half hour which would give him time to finish painting Venus, and maybe start on Earth. Andy came out of the bathroom, wearing a dress shirt and dress pants. He walked over to the bed where his tie and suspenders were laying. Sharon eyed him as he exited the bathroom and she stood up to join him at the foot of their bed. Andy turned around and handed her his suspenders and she placed them in the back of his pants and then brought them over to the front. She glided her hands down his chest as she fastened them to the front of his pants. She then took his tie from him and pulled up his shirt collar and began to tie his tie. She loved playing with his ties. Andy watched her as she went about tying his tie, not too tight around his neck, and then smoothed her hand down as she straightened it out for him.

Sharon looked back up at Andy's face and smiled at him. He leaned down and pulled her in for a kiss. He ran his hands inside her suit jacket and around to her back. "Matthew's already downstairs, back working on his project" she said to him as both of their foreheads were touching. "He's enjoying that project" Andy said to her as they pulled away from each other. "I'll meet you down there" she said to him as she walked away. "Give me five minutes" he said to her as he went back in to their closet and pulled his gun, magazines, and handcuffs out of the safe and placed them on his belt.

Andy came downstairs about five minutes later and checked in on Matthew who was sitting at the dining room table. "Did you have breakfast yet?" he asked Matthew. "No" Matthew said as he placed Venus on a toothpick and sat it to air dry. "Why don't we put this away now, and go have breakfast, because after we eat, we're headed to school and work" Andy said to him and Matthew put caps on the paint and took the paint brush and the plastic cup of water and brought them in to the kitchen.

Sharon had placed the cereal boxes on the countertop and was sitting at the kitchen table when Andy and Matthew came in. "Matthew, your lunch is all ready. Please place it in your backpack now so you don't forget it" Sharon said to Matthew as she was looking over some notes from their latest case. Matthew dumped the water in the sink and threw the plastic cup in the recycling. He then walked over to the island counter and took his lunch bag from there and placed it in his backpack. Matthew and Andy then joined Sharon at the kitchen table and had cereal for breakfast.

Meanwhile, at the PAB, Provenza made his way into the building and flashed his badge at the officer at the front desk. "Morning Ron!" Provenza said to him as he waved. "Morning Lieutenant" Ron said as he waved back. Provenza then made his way towards the elevators to head up to the ninth floor. As he was waiting, Winnie Davis walked over to Provenza and stood next to him. Provenza did a double take as he saw she was standing by him. "Chief Davis, anything I can help you with?" Provenza asked as they waited for the elevator. "Lieutenant, yes there is something you can help me with" Winnie Davis said to him. Provenza looked like he was a deer in headlights as he didn't think Winnie Davis would ask him for help on something.

"Tell me, does your captain make it a habit of bringing her child to the Murder Room, especially when her team is investigating a case?" Winnie Davis asked him as the elevator doors opened up. She stepped inside the elevator and Provenza thought about waiting for the next one but decided to join her in that elevator. "Um, excuse me Chief?" Provenza said to her. "I noticed that the captain and the lieutenant had their kid with them when they arrived yesterday afternoon. I've noticed him in the building on several occasions, I was just wondering if she thinks her office is suitable for a young child to be there" Winnie Davis said to Provenza as the elevator stopped on the third floor. "I'll have you know Chief, that the Captain and Lieutenant Flynn were returning early from their vacation with their son, and he's always welcomed in our office, just like the rest of our family members" Provenza said as the doors were about to close. "Hmm, well we will see about that policy" Winnie Davis said as the doors closed.

"Ye gods" Provenza muttered under his breath. "Of all the days that Patrice offers to drive me to work, I run into her" he muttered as the elevator came to a stop on the ninth floor. Provenza walked out of the elevator and towards the Murder Room. When he opened the door and walked inside, he saw Julio and Mike already sitting at their desks. "Gentlemen, good morning" Provenza said to them. "Morning Lieutenant" Julio said to Provenza as he sat down at his desk. "Everything okay, Provenza?" Mike asked him as he sat there staring. "I had the unpleasant Chief Davis in the elevator with me this morning" Provenza said to them. "What did she want, sir?" Julio asked. "Apparently she doesn't like it when the Captain brings Matthew to the office. I guess she ran into them as they came back from their vacation. Anyway, enough about Chief Davis. Tao, have you found anything yet from the forensics report regarding this case?" Provenza asked Mike.

Back at the Flynn house, everyone was getting ready to leave the house for the morning commute. Matthew had his backpack and was holding Moxie on his leash. Andy held the door open for Sharon to walk through and then locked the door behind him. They all walked to the garage and saw Rusty coming down the steps from his apartment over the garage. "Where are you off to this early in the morning?" Sharon asked Rusty. "Oh, well DDA Hobbs wants me to stop at the Starbucks on the way to the office and pick her up a double shot espresso with some caramel drizzle on it, I think" Rusty said as he made his way to his car. "We have some depositions to go over for one of her court cases this morning" he added as he got inside. "Bye, have a good day!" Sharon said to Rusty as she joined Andy and Matthew already in their car with Moxie.

Andy waited for Rusty to pull out of the driveway before he started the car. He then drove them to Matthew's school first. As Andy pulled up to the parking lot of the school, Matthew saw some kids he knew from his class and they were carrying their solar system projects in. Matthew let out a little groan as Andy parked the car. "They're already bringing their projects in" Matthew whined. "The project is not due till Friday, right?" Andy asked him as he turned in his seat to look at him. "Yes" Matthew said quietly. "Okay, well you have plenty of time to work on it" Andy said to him. Sharon stepped out of the car with Matthew like she did every day they dropped him off together. "Have a good day Matthew" Sharon said to him as she gave him a hug and he walked over to where the school doors were open, speaking to a kid as he walked in.

Sharon got back in the car and they then went to drop off Moxie from the doggie day care center. After the dog was settled, Andy got back in the car and they drove over to the PAB. As he parked their car in his spot, Andy got out and walked over to hold Sharon's door open for her. She carried her bag and purse as they walked to the elevators. "I forgot to ask you this last night, but did Provenza like his autographed ball and picture?" Sharon asked Andy as they stepped on the elevator. "He was thankful, but complained in typical Provenza fashion that I only got one Dodger player to sign it" Andy said to Sharon. Sharon smiled at Andy and settled nicely into his side as they rode in the elevator up to the ninth floor.

As they exited the elevator and headed towards their office, Andy held the door open for Sharon and she walked inside the office, with Andy following her. "Good Morning everyone" Sharon said to her team as they were all there now sitting at their desks. "Morning Captain" Amy said to her and then turned around to look over some paperwork. Sharon made her way to her office and dropped her bag and purse off. She looked at her desk to see if there were any messages on her phone and then switched on her computer.

Andy made his way over to his desk but before he could sit down, Provenza was over by him. "Hey, I hate to bring the Captain down from her great mood this morning but" Provenza started to tell Andy but Andy held up his hand to stop him. "Let me guess, you're still not happy about the autograph" Andy said to him. "What? No, that's fine and all. I ran into Chief Davis this morning and she wasn't too happy, let's say, with you and her bringing Matthew in here yesterday" Provenza said to him. "What business is it of hers anyway?!" Andy said in a loud voice. "Would you keep it down, you idiot! Like I said I don't want to ruin the Captain's good mood by telling her this" Provenza said as he looked at Andy. Andy leaned up against his desk as he crossed his arms, still looking at Provenza. "You can" Provenza added and then walked away heading back to his desk.

Andy glared at Provenza as he was walking back. He debated whether or not to share the news that Provenza just told him with Sharon. He glanced at her in her office. She was sitting down at her desk checking her emails, he figured. She really was in a good mood despite being up early this morning. As he sat back down at his desk, he thought he would wait and see if the time ever came up to let her know what Provenza told him. Meanwhile Andy unlocked his desk drawer and pulled out the report that he was looking at yesterday regarding the financials of their victim.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 3

Wes Peterson was sitting in his office in the Chase Bank building in downtown Los Angeles. As he was sipping on his coffee, he read the newspaper and flipped it to the crime section of the LA Times. His eyes skimmed over the paper until something caught his attention. Randy Grey was found dead in his house. "Son of a bitch" Wes Peterson muttered to himself as he read the brief blurb. It didn't say much other than '45 year old Randy Grey, stockbroker, was found dead in his home yesterday morning. Police are investigating his death'. Wes Peterson put his coffee cup on his desk and closed the paper. "Samantha!?" he called out to his secretary. "Yes, Mr. Peterson" Samantha walked into his office. "Can you get me all of the reports of our investments with Mr. Randy Grey please" Wes Peterson said to her. "Yes sir" Samantha said to him and then went back to her desk. All of a sudden, Wes Peterson felt a little antsy about the recent death of Randy Grey as he sat at his desk.

Back in the Murder Room, Andy looked over the financials of Randy Grey as he sat at his desk. He had run three reports and so far, only two of them came back. Sharon walked out of her office to join her team and she ran her hand over Andy's back as she passed him. Andy glanced over at her but she didn't skip a beat as she headed over to the Murder Board. "Okay, do we have anything new to add so far to this case?" Sharon said as she turned around to face them. Julio rose his hand. "The Lieutenant and I are going over the client list from Randy's work, but so far we haven't come up with anything yet" Julio said as he nodded to Provenza. "I'm currently going over Wally Parker's financials and this guy has no debt, whatsoever" Amy said as she held up a piece of paper. "Hmm, that's odd, isn't it?" Sharon said as she walked over to Amy's desk and looked at the paper herself.

"It's as if all of his debt got wiped away somehow" Amy said to Sharon as Sharon read the report. She handed the report back to Amy. "Anything else?" Sharon said to them. "Yeah, I've been going over Randy Grey's financials a little further and there's something in them that's not adding up" Andy said to Sharon and the rest of the team. "Like what?" Sharon asked him. "Well, for starters unlike Wally, his life partner, Randy did have a lot of debt. Student loans, house mortgage, credit cards, I mean you name it, it's here" Andy said to them. Sharon looked at him and then back at the board. She wondered why Wally's financials would be so different than Randy's. "But that's not what's so strange about it" Andy added as he walked over to the Murder Board and started writing some figures down on the board.

"There are three names that kept popping up as deposits in the bank statements of Randy Grey. Wes Peterson, Cheryl Scott, and Travis Martin. All three of these people gave Randy some sort of money as an investment several times a month because according to these statements, Randy deposited their money into three accounts, all under his name" Andy explained to the team as he turned around from the board to face them. Sharon moved over to look at the report Andy was holding and he handed it to her to read. "I thought there were no big deposits that showed up yesterday?" Sharon asked. "That was a preliminary report" Mike said to Sharon. Andy stood there and watched her. "Lieutenant Provenza, are any of these names on Randy's client list" Sharon said as she handed the report to Provenza. He compared the list of Randy's clients and then looked up at Sharon. "Yes Captain, all three of them" Provenza said.

"I would like us to research these three people and find out what we can on them" Sharon said as she started to walk back to her office. Sharon sat down at her desk and was looking over the report that Andy had regarding Randy's financials and then she looked at the report regarding Wally's financials. 'If the two of them were together, what's with the huge discrepancy here?' Sharon thought to herself. She then looked over the report from Doctor Morales again.

"Tao, were there any fingerprints found at the crime scene?" Provenza asked Mike. Mike looked away from his computer and found the report on his desk. "No, it seemed as if the crime scene was wiped clean of any prints of any kind" Mike said to Provenza. "Hmm, so are we dealing with a professional hit man here? I mean why would there be no prints?" Provenza asked. "Easy, perhaps our killer wore gloves the whole time" Mike stated to him. "If our killer went to Randy's house with the intention of killing him, then how would that explain the killer catching Randy off guard as Morales stated in the morgue" Provenza asked them. "Perhaps Randy knew our killer" Andy stated as Julio was putting up the three pictures of the people who made deposits to Randy.

Sharon stepped out of her office again. "Amy, Julio, I think we should go pick up Wally Parker and bring him down here for some questions regarding his financials" Sharon said to them. "Will do Captain" Amy said as she stood up and looked across the way at Julio. Julio stood up and followed Amy out of the office to go pick up Wally and bring him back to the PAB. "While they go out to bring Wally here, let's run a background on him. I want to make sure that he doesn't have anything in his file" Sharon said. "I'm on it, Captain" Mike said in reply and started typing away on his computer.

A half hour later, Amy, Julio, and Wally Parker walk into interview room 3. "Am I under arrest?" Wally asked them. "No, Mr. Parker, like we explained to you earlier we just have some questions that only you can answer, that's all" Amy explained to Wally as he took a seat at the table. "Okay, sure. What do you want to know?" Wally said as he sat there looking at Julio and Amy. Sharon, Andy, and Provenza were in the electronics room with Buzz observing the interview of Wally when Mike walked into the room. "Here is your background check on Wally Parker. He's a school teacher at Brundy Middle School in South L.A. Never been arrested" Mike said to Sharon as he joined Andy and Provenza at the back of the room and looked onward at the monitors.

"Wally, you and Randy both owned that house, is that correct?" Amy asked him as he sat across from them. "Well, technically Randy was the owner on the mortgage, but we paid it together" Wally said to them. "Was Randy in some sort of financial trouble?" Julio asked him. Wally shook his head. "No, we had money" Wally answered as he sat there. "We ran your credit report, Wally, and you have no debt, but Randy's report shows debt, a lot of it. Why is that?" Amy asked him. Wally just looked at the two from across the table and paused. "Oh, it's always the partner?" Provenza said out loud in electronics. Andy glanced at him. "Really?" he said to Provenza as they continued to watch the screen.

"Randy paid for my expenses. We've been together for 15 years and when we got together, he wanted to help me with all of my debt, so he gave me the money to pay off all of my loans" Wally stated to them. "So if Randy gave him the money to pay off all of his debt, why didn't Randy pay off his own debt?" Sharon asked as she watched the interview. "That doesn't make sense" Andy stated as the interview continued before them. "Why would Randy pay for everything for you, Wally?" Julio asked Wally. Wally shifted in his chair. "We were in love, he wanted to show me how much he truly cared about me" Wally said but then sat forward and leaned his hands on the table. "Look, he wanted to be the provider in this relationship. He didn't even want me to continue working as a teacher but I told him that it was my passion to teach these young, amazing kids at the school" Wally stated to them.

"Did the two of you ever get in any arguments?" Amy asked him. "No, not really. I mean there were a few, but we always made up" Wally answered her. "How long again were you in New York?" Amy asked him. "Just for the weekend. I flew out Friday night and returned Monday morning, on the super early flight" Wally said. "And Randy was okay with you going to New York?" Julio asked him. "Yes, he encouraged me to go" Wally replied. Julio and Amy sat back in their chairs and then Amy looked up at the camera.

Sharon watched the interview end as she sat in electronics. "Something doesn't make sense here" she said out loud. "This whole case doesn't make sense!" Provenza stated as he leaned up against the wall. "You are correct on that, Lieutenant" Sharon said as she turned around to face her three Lieutenants in the room. "I think we can officially scratch off Wally Parker from our lists of suspects, again, and concentrate on our trio of investors" Sharon said to them and they agreed.

They exited the electronics room and headed back to their desks. Julio and Amy both showed Wally Parker where the exit was and joined the rest of the team minutes later. "I want to know everything about Wes Peterson, Cheryl Scott, and Travis Martin" Sharon said to the team as she walked towards her office and closed the door behind her. Andy watched her walk away and then glanced at Provenza who was also watching her. "Did you mention Chief Davis to her yet?" Provenza said to Andy. "Are you kidding me? I'm not going to mention that to her, especially right now in the middle of this investigation" Andy said to Provenza and then went to sit down at his desk.

Meanwhile, halfway across town in Hollywood, Cheryl Scott was showing a house that she was the listing realtor on to a couple when her phone rang. She looked at it briefly and saw Wes Peterson's name flash on her screen. "Excuse me, I need to take this" she said to the couple and then walked towards a hallway in the house. "Wes, is everything okay?" she said as she answered her phone. "Did you see in today's paper?" Wes said to her. "What do you mean?" she said over the phone as she glanced up to make sure the couple was still where she had left them. "Randy Grey was found dead this morning" Wes said to her and her face dropped. "Well something finally caught up with that swindler" Cheryl said to Wes. "You didn't have anything to do with this, did you?" he asked her. "Of course not, did you?" she said to him. "No" he replied. "The police are investigating his death" Wes said. "So, let them do their job" Cheryl said. "Look, I'm showing a house and I can't talk right now, perhaps later if you want to call me" Cheryl said to him and then she hung up her phone. Rejoining her clients in the same room she left them in. "Sorry about that, now where were we" she said to the couple and continued showing the house.

An hour later, the team was gathering around the Murder Board again, discussing the three investors. "Wes Peterson is the CEO of the Chase bank branch here in downtown L.A. He's married, two kids, both of them in college looks like" Julio said to Sharon as she leaned on one of the empty desks near Mike's desk. "He's in debt but what parents aren't with two kids in college?" Amy said as she read off his financials. Sharon smirked at that, knowing that her and Andy were currently helping Rusty through college. Andy glanced over at Sharon as he folded his arms across his chest. "How much money did he give our victim?" Sharon asked Amy. "It looks like he invested over a hundred thousand dollars over the years, Captain" Amy said to her. "And how much of that did he lose?" Sharon wondered as she looked at the Murder Board. "Half a million, ma'am" Julio answered. "Do we know where he's at right now?" Sharon asked. "He's currently at work, located at the Chase Bank at 9th street and Hill street" Julio stated.

"Okay, what about the other two?" Sharon asked as she walked over to the Murder Board. "Cheryl Scott, is a millionaire realtor. She's partners in a real estate firm, specializing in million dollar homes in the Hollywood Hills area" Andy said to the team. "She invested her money with Randy here, starting a couple of years ago, and she got good returns" Andy added as he handed Sharon a piece of paper. "But, recently, as in a couple of months ago, her returns didn't do so well, and looks like Randy was pocketing her money along with Wes and our other guy, Travis Martin" Andy said as he leaned up against the desk behind Amy. "So, she could have motive to want to see Randy pay for his carelessness with her money" Provenza stated to them. "Yes, Lieutenant, however, so could Wes and this other guy, Travis Martin" Sharon said as she glanced at the board. "Do we know where Cheryl Scott is?" she asked. "Her secretary at the real estate office said she's out showing a house in Hollywood right now" Andy said to Sharon.

"Okay, what's going on with Travis Martin?" Sharon asked as she looked over at Mike. "Travis Martin appears to be a millionaire according to his bank statements, however he resides at a house on 83rd street and Harvard Boulevard" Mike said to Sharon and the rest of the team. "That's what in South L.A?" Buzz asked them as he sat at his desk. "Around that area, Buzz" Mike answered him. "Not where your typical millionaire would be living" Provenza added and then turned around in his chair to face the Murder Board.

"What do we know about him?" Sharon asked Mike. "Well, there's not much to say. He's retired looks like, used to work in Long Beach as a longshoreman, his wife passed away three years ago, and according to Randy's phone records, he was the last person to speak with Randy" Mike stated. "When did he call him?" Sharon asked. "Nine o'clock Saturday night" Mike answered. "Why would you call your investor on a Saturday night?" Andy said as he shook his head. "How much money did he lose?" Sharon asked. "Well, can't really say for certain" Mike said and Sharon walked over to him. Mike showed the figures on his computer screen to her. "It looks like he lost a lot, but there's all of these deposits every week to another account, but I don't know what that account is for" Mike said to Sharon. "Do we know where he's at right now?" Sharon asked as she moved away from his desk. "No Captain" Mike answered her as he sat back in his chair.

"Okay, let's talk to Wes and Cheryl and see what they can tell us. We'll worry about Travis Martin later" Sharon said to her team. "Do you want us to bring them down here, ma'am" Julio asked before Sharon entered her office. "Yes, that would be fine" Sharon said as she entered her office and sat down at her desk. "Alright, Julio, Amy, go with Mike to pick up Cheryl Scott at her place of business. Meanwhile, Flynn and I will go to the Chase Bank on 9th and pick up Wes Peterson" Provenza said to them as he put on his suit jacket. The team left, leaving Buzz in the office as well.

Provenza drove him and Andy over to the Chase Bank where Wes worked. They pulled up in front of the building and headed inside. As the approached the security guard, they flashed their badges to him. "We're looking for Wes Peterson, could you tell us what floor his office is on?" Provenza said to the security guard. "He's on the tenth floor, second door on the right from the elevator" the security guard told them. "Thank you" Andy said and then they walked towards the elevators to take them up to the tenth floor. As they rode up in the elevator, Andy couldn't stop pacing inside. "What is your problem?" Provenza asked him. "Nothing, just why did you have to tell me what Winnie Davis told you this morning? Now I feel like I'm keeping something from Sharon and I don't want to do that" Andy said to Provenza as the elevator doors opened on the tenth floor. "So then tell her" Provenza said as they turned right down the hallway over to the office. Andy looked at him and stopped before they entered the glass doors.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" Samantha, Wes Peterson's secretary said to Provenza and Andy as they entered the office space. "Ah, yes, LAPD, Lieutenants Flynn and Provenza, we're here to see Mr. Wes Peterson" Provenza said to Samantha and smiled at her. "He's in his office, please wait right here" Samantha said to Provenza and then walked towards Wes's office. Andy smacked him on his left arm. "What are you doing?" he hissed at Provenza. "What does it look like I'm doing?" Provenza asked him. "You're flirting with her" Andy said to him. "No, I'm not" Provenza protested and then Wes Peterson walked out of his office with Samantha. Wes was not very tall, definitely shorter than their victim as he walked over to them.

"Lieutenants, what can I do for the LAPD?" Wes Peterson asked them as he approached the two standing at the front desk. "Uh, we have some questions for you, if you could come down to our office, and answer them there, that would be greatly appreciated" Andy said to Wes as he stood there in front of them. Wes opened his mouth but didn't say anything, instead he turned to Samantha. "Samantha, hold my calls, and move my meeting to tomorrow morning instead of this afternoon" Wes stated to her and then turned towards Andy and Provenza. "Lead the way, Lieutenants" Wes said as he followed them out of his office and then down the elevator.

Meanwhile, in Hollywood at the real estate office where Cheryl Scott works, Julio, Mike and Amy were waiting for Cheryl to come back from her showing earlier. As she walked into her office she was surprised to see three people waiting. "Oh, hello, are you here to sell or buy a house?" she asked Mike as she approached him first. "Uh, neither" Mike said to her as he glanced at Amy and Julio. "LAPD" Mike said as he showed his badge to her. Cheryl looked at him with trepidation as she placed her bag on the floor next to her. "We were wondering if you could come down to our office and answer a few questions" Amy asked her. "What is this regarding?" Cheryl asked in return. "Randy Grey" Julio said to her and she turned to her secretary. "Lisa, I'll be out of the office the rest of the day" Cheryl said to her and then picked up her bag. "Okay" Cheryl said to them as she walked out with Amy. Mike and Julio followed them outside to their car.

Sharon looked up from her desk and saw Andy and Provenza walk into the room with Wes Peterson. Andy waved to Sharon as they passed her office and she stood up and walked out. She saw them lead Wes into Interview room 1 and she walked over to electronics with Buzz. Buzz had all of the equipment set up so they were ready when the team came back with their suspects. Sharon sat down at the table next to Buzz and listened in on the interview.

"Gentlemen, I have nothing to hide" Wes said as he sat down at the table across from Andy and Provenza. "Well, that's good news because we hate when people hide something from us" Provenza said to him as he looked at Wes. Wes's smile quickly turned into a concerned look. Andy shuffled some papers around on the table until he found what he was looking for. "Mr. Peterson, do you know a Randy Grey by any chance?" Andy asked Wes. "Uh, Randy Grey?" Wes repeated as he thought about it. "Um, no can't say that I know him" Wes said nervously. "Hmm, that's funny because according to this bank statement, you gave him money in the form of a check for this amount" Andy said to Wes, chuckling as he showed him the bank statement. Wes took a look at the statement and swallowed. "Oh, that Randy" Wes said to them. "Is there another Randy Grey that you know?" Provenza asked him. "Um, no. Sorry, I got confused" Wes said to them as Provenza and Andy both looked at each other.

"This interview should be fun to watch" Buzz said to Sharon as both of them watched on the monitors. Sharon smiled and continued to listen and watch Wes Peterson. "Look, we know that you invested money with Randy Grey and that you lost a half a million to him and his investment" Provenza said to Wes as he sat there. "He promised me great returns. My wife and I have two kids in college at the same time, do you know how expensive that is?" Wes said to them. "Sir, you're the CEO of a bank, surely you not hurting for money" Provenza said to Wes. "I just wanted to be able to provide for my family, and I met Randy Grey a couple of years ago at a party. He spoke to me about his investments and said I could get lots of money in my returns from his plan. At first, my wife and I were thrilled with the investments. Later on, I wasn't getting the great returns like Randy promised, until lately when he lost almost all of the money I gave him to invest" Wes Peterson stated to Andy and Provenza. Provenza looked at Wes as Andy looked up at the camera, sending Sharon a silent conversation.

Sharon watched the monitors and silently agreed with Andy. Wes Peterson was not their killer. Provenza and Andy walked out of the interview room with Wes Peterson and they thanked him for cooperating with them. As they were walking him out to the hallway, Mike, Amy, and Julio were walking in with Cheryl Scott. "Cheryl" Wes said to her in a surprised tone. Cheryl just looked at Wes, caught off guard at the meeting. "Wait a minute, you two know each other?" Provenza asked Wes and Cheryl. "Only through our investments with Randy" Wes said to them. Sharon saw the whole exchange between the two of them and as Andy turned around, she motioned for them to bring Wes back into the interview room. "We can't hold him indefinitely but now that we know they know each other" Sharon said to Andy and Provenza as two patrol officers were called over to escort Wes back into the interview room. Andy shook his head as the three of them went back into electronics to listen to the interview with Cheryl.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thanks everyone for the great reviews so far to this story. I really appreciate it. I am giving a warning for this chapter. It is a cliff-hanger at the end, but please don't skip to the very end as you will be lost with the story then. Please be patient as well. The next chapter has already been written, I'm just waiting for it to be reviewed and ready for your reading pleasure. And don't worry...I am a huge Shandy shipper, so keep that in mind when you read this chapter.

Chapter 4

Cheryl Scott sat across from Mike and Amy in Interview room 2. "So Cheryl, tell us about Randy Grey" Mike said to her as she sat uncomfortably in the chair. "Am I under arrest here?" Cheryl asked them. "Should you be?" Amy said back to her. "No, I didn't do anything wrong" Cheryl said to them. "Okay, well then tell us how did you know Randy Grey" Mike asked her again. "I met him at a party, he stated that he was an investor with some investment company, I forgot the name of it, and that if I wanted to make money easily, I should give him a call" Cheryl said to them. "And that didn't set off any red flags?" Amy asked her. "This was a couple of years ago, when the stock market was more volatile" Cheryl said. "I was just starting out my career in real estate and in order for me to establish my company, I took Randy up on his offer and invested with him" Cheryl added.

"So, this Randy guy preys on two people who wanted to get rich quickly in order to establish a real estate company and provide for their family" Provenza said as he watched the monitors. One showed Cheryl being interviewed and the other showed Wes sitting in the room by himself. "So was this a get rich quick scheme that Randy was running?" Andy asked Sharon who was sitting in front of him. "If so, and everyone started getting bad returns, then everyone's motive for murder just went higher" Sharon said as she watched the interview.

"Buzz, ask Mike to bring up the name Travis Martin to Cheryl. Let's see if she knows him as well" Sharon said to Buzz. "Okay Captain" Buzz said and then pressed the button for the microphone. "Lieutenant Tao, the Captain would like you to mention Travis Martin to our suspect" Buzz said over the microphone into the ear piece that was in Mike's ear. "Cheryl, what do you know about Travis Martin?" Mike asked her. Cheryl shook her head. "He was another investor with Randy that he swindled" Cheryl stated. "And how do you know him?" Amy asked her. "I don't know him know him, but we've met a couple of times" Cheryl stated. "Where have you met?" Mike asked her.

"Now this is getting interesting, Captain" Provenza said to Sharon as they all watched the monitors. "At the local bars by his house, he doesn't like to travel that far" Cheryl answered Mike. "Do you know where he lives?" Amy asked her. "No, I've never been to his house" Cheryl said to her. "But these bars that you met him in, how did you know they were close to his house?" Mike asked her. "Because he told us, me and Wes" Cheryl stated to them. Sharon had heard enough. She turned in her chair and motioned for Andy to follow her into Interview room 1 where Wes was sitting in. Sharon opened the door from electronics and they both walked over to the interview room and Andy opened the door for Sharon.

"Hello, Wes, I'm Captain Sharon Flynn. I understand that you answered a lot of our questions earlier but something has come up, but before you answer you need to have your Miranda rights read to you" Sharon said to him. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be provided to you" Andy said to him. "Do you understand these rights?" Sharon asked Wes. "Yes" Wes said to her. "Good and now, I need to know if you know anything about Travis Martin" Sharon said as she took a seat across the table from Wes. Andy sat down next to her.

Wes looked at Sharon as she sat down. He was about to say something but Sharon interrupted him. "And before you lie to us, again, we already know the truth" Sharon said as she waited for his answer. "Uh Travis, he, umm, also invested with Randy and lost money, same as we did" Wes stated to Sharon as he sat there. "When was the last time you saw Travis Martin?" Sharon asked him. "Um, last week, we went out to some bar by his house, kind of like a meeting of the people Randy wronged by investments" Wes stated. "Why didn't you go to the police with this information regarding Randy and his scheme?" Andy asked him. "I don't know" Wes answered.

Sharon and Andy both looked at each other in the room. They needed to talk to Travis Martin and soon. "How often did you and Cheryl meet with Travis?" Andy asked him. "Not often, maybe once a month" Wes stated to them. "What did you guys talk about when you would meet?" Andy asked him. "Travis kept talking about how Randy had wronged him and us and that eventually Randy would get what was coming to him" Wes said to them. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Sharon said to Wes as she leaned forward in her chair. Andy glanced at Sharon and then focused on Wes. "That Travis said Randy would get what was coming to him" Wes repeated. Sharon stood up along with Andy and they exited the room.

Sharon waited until the door closed to talk with Andy. "Travis Martin has to be our guy" Andy said to her as they made their way to electronics. The door opened and Provenza met them in the hallway. "Captain, we have an APB on Travis Martin. We'll know if someone spots him" Provenza said to Sharon in the hallway. "Fine, in the meantime, I want to know everything, and I mean everything about this guy, who's he affiliated with, where he goes" Sharon said to them as she made her way over to her office. "Should we let Wes and Cheryl go then?" Provenza asked her. "Yes" she called out over her shoulder as she entered her office. Provenza nodded to Julio who went to the other interview room to let Mike and Amy know to let Cheryl go.

Provenza and Andy both looked at each other before returning to the interview room where Wes was sitting. "You're free to go Wes" Provenza said to him. Wes stood up from his chair and walked out of the room. "Oh, could you do us a favor?" Provenza asked him. "What, what is it?" Wes said. "Whatever you do, do not contact Travis Martin, got it?" Andy said to him. Wes nodded and then left the office and headed towards the elevators. They waited until Wes was out of the building before they released Cheryl, just in case the two of them would speak to each other. They had Buzz follow the two of them out of the building and then he came back up to the ninth floor.

Buzz entered the Murder Room as everyone was gathering at their desks. "Anything Buzz?" Mike asked him. "No, Wes got in his car and Cheryl got in hers and they drove off" Buzz said as he returned to his desk. "Well, if they do talk to each other, it doesn't really matter. I think the Captain is focused on Travis Martin now as our prime suspect" Provenza said to them as he pointed up at the board where Travis's picture was located.

An hour later, the team was still at their desks when Chief Howard entered the office. "Chief, to what do we owe your presence here?" Provenza said to him. "I'm just here to speak with your Captain, is she in?" Chief Howard stated to him. Provenza pointed to Sharon's office and Chief Howard walked over there and knocked on her closed door. "Come in" Sharon said on the other side. Chief Howard walked in her office as Andy watched him enter. "Chief Howard, what can I help you with?" Sharon said to him as he took a seat in front of her desk. "I'm just here to see how your investigation is going" Chief Howard said to her. "Oh, well, we need some more time but I think we are very close to making an arrest, maybe tonight or tomorrow" Sharon said to him. "Oh, well that's good news" Chief Howard said to her.

Sharon looked at Chief Howard as he was still sitting down, looking like he had something else on his mind he wanted to say to her. "Anything else Chief?" Sharon asked him. "No, nothing else" Chief Howard said as he stood up from his chair. "Ah, well, I just wanted to let you know that I have been running interference for you with Chief Davis" Chief Howard said. Sharon looked up at him and then leaned back in her chair. "What does she want now" Sharon said to him. "What doesn't she want" Chief Howard said in return. "I got your back, Captain" Chief Howard stated to her. She nodded and watched Chief Howard exit her office.

Sharon took a deep breath and sighed as she glanced over at the clock in her office. She walked out of her office and over to the rest of the team. Andy stood up and followed her. "Do we have anything new on Travis Martin?" she asked them. "I looked into those deposits to the accounts that we couldn't figure out before, and I found something interesting with them" Mike said to Sharon as Sharon walked over to this desk. "See these money transfers, well they are reoccurring every couple of weeks, always the same amount" Mike said as he showed Sharon what was on his computer. "Can we tell how long these money transfers have been going on?" Sharon asked him. "No, but if I had to take a guess, it looks like maybe it's some sort of payment" Mike said. "He was a longshoreman, maybe he still pays union dues every couple of weeks" Andy said to them as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Anything else?" Sharon asked the team. "We ran his criminal history ma'am, and nothing popped up that was major. A couple of traffic tickets for speeding and one for obstructing a peace officer, but that looks like it happened during a strike at Long Beach a couple of years ago" Julio stated to Sharon. "Do we know his location yet?" Sharon asked. "No. Patrol has been alerted and they were given instructions to notify Major Crimes if they spot him, and not to engage him if he is a peaceful citizen" Provenza said to her. Sharon stood there thinking when Provenza interrupted her. "Do you want to call SIS, maybe see if they can spare someone to watch his house for the night?" Provenza asked her. She looked at the clock again. It was getting close to them needing to leave to pick Matthew up from school. "Sure, let's set that up Lieutenant. In the meantime, everyone go home. We'll pick up tomorrow morning" Sharon said to them as she walked back in to her office.

Andy made his way back to his desk to put his paperwork away for the night. Everyone else did the same. Provenza hung up his phone as he had set up a surveillance truck to watch Travis Martin's home for the night. The team left the office one by one until it was only Sharon and Andy left. Andy walked in to Sharon's office and knocked on the doorframe. "Ready to go?" he asked her as he stepped in. "Yes" she said as she gathered her things and then they made their way out of the office. The rode the elevator in silence. Andy was still debating whether or not to tell Sharon what Provenza had told him earlier. He figured he would tell her after they ate dinner. They walked to their car and he held the door open for Sharon as she got inside. He then made his way around the car, and got in the driver's side. Sharon placed her left hand on his right arm and looked at him. "Is everything okay?" she asked him in a concerned voice.

He looked at her and couldn't hold it back anymore. "I was hoping for a better time to tell this to you" he started off by saying. Sharon face showed complete concern when Andy said that. "What is it?" she said as she hoped it had nothing to do with his health. Andy looked down and sighed. "Provenza ran into Winnie Davis this morning and she had some concerns regarding us bringing Matthew to the office" Andy said as he looked at her. "That's it? That's the big secret?" Sharon said to him, annoyed. "What do you mean?" Andy said to her. "I thought you were going to tell me that you had another health crisis!" Sharon said to him as she shook her head. Sharon looked at him. "I'm not concerned about Winnie Davis and her parenting 101 skills" Sharon told him as she smiled at him. She leaned over the center consol. "You may be punished later for scaring me for a second" she whispered to him as she kissed him on his cheek. He watched her settle back in to her seat and he started the car. "Provenza" he muttered his name as he pulled out of the parking garage and headed over to pick up Matthew from school.

By the time they got home with everyone, Matthew was anxious to get out of the car. As soon as Andy pulled the car into the garage, Matthew opened his door and he jumped out with Moxie, grabbing his backpack and running to the back door of the house. "Hey! Slow down!" Andy called out to him. Sharon looked over at him. "He wants to finish his project. That's all he talked about when I went inside to pick him up. He was talking about some of the kids that brought their solar system in and how different they were from his" Sharon said to Andy as they both got out of the car. Sharon waited for Andy and then she held his hand as they both walked to the back door. He smiled as he was glad that Matthew was excited about the project. He kissed Sharon on her cheek and then unlocked the back door, having Matthew and Moxie both run inside the house. Andy was about to say something but Sharon stopped him and kissed him instead. "I'll get dinner ready and you can go help him" Sharon said to him as she walked off into the kitchen. Andy stood there for a minute and then realized that he should bring the base of the project in from the garage.

Andy walked back in to the house carrying the base and brought it through the kitchen and in to the dining room where he sat it on the table. "Is that all ready?" Matthew asked him as he was painting the planet Earth. "Yes, but first finish painting all of the planets, and neatness counts buddy" Andy said to Matthew as he sat down, rolled up his sleeves, and joined him at the table. By the time Sharon came in to the dining room to check on them, they had already painted through to Neptune. "How's it going in here?" she asked them. Andy looked up from placing Neptune on a toothpick to dry. "Things are going really well" Andy said to her and smiled. "Good" she said as she looked at Matthew who was busy painting the tiny small planet of Pluto. "Dinner's almost ready, maybe in ten minutes or so" she said to them and then turned around and headed back in to the kitchen.

Matthew handed Andy the planet Pluto and Andy placed it on a toothpick to dry. "What about the asteroids?" Matthew said to Andy as he looked over everything. "Well, you could always draw them on the board between Mars and Jupiter" Andy suggested to him. "Hmm, okay" Matthew said as he shrugged his shoulders and started to pick up another brush. "But, first, we are going to eat dinner" Andy said to him. "Awe" Matthew whined but placed his paint brush down and stood up from the table. "Go wash up!" Andy said as he called out to him. Matthew was already in the kitchen and then he saw him walk over to the bathroom.

Andy walked in to the kitchen and saw Sharon preparing a salad for them. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her middle. "Something smells good in here" he said as he whispered in her ear. She smiled as she was cutting up a cucumber for the salad. "Since you cooked dinner, how about later tonight, you get to relax in a specially prepared bath by yours truly" he said to her as he kissed her neck. Sharon chuckled as he tickled her with his lips and then moved to the side out of his embrace. She turned around and smiled at him. "That sounds wonderful" she said to him as she placed the cucumbers in the salad and handed the salad bowl to him. Andy then placed the salad bowl on the kitchen table.

Matthew came out of the bathroom, with freshly washed hands and sat down at the kitchen table. He took some cucumbers and tomatoes out of the bowl and placed them on his plate. He then took some salad dressing and poured it on them. Sharon then brought over the baked chicken that she prepared with rosemary and olive oil and placed it on the table. She then brought over the potatoes and sat down to join her two boys for dinner. "This is really good, Sharon" Andy said as he took a bite of the chicken. "I'm glad you like it" she said to him as they ate dinner.

After dinner, Matthew helped clear the table and then he went back to his project. Andy brought all of the main dishes back to the counter and started to put them away. Sharon carried the salad bowl back to the counter. "No, no" Andy shook his head. "You made dinner, Sharon, you don't clean up, those are the rules" Andy said to her. "I've got this, and when I'm done, I'll go fix you your bath, my love" he said to her and she smiled, caressing his face. "Have I told you lately how much I love you?" she said to him. "Hmm, if I say yes, will you still let me know?" he said to her and she leaned in to kiss him. "I'm going to go see how Matthew is doing" she said as she broke apart from him and headed towards the dining room.

Matthew was looking at his science book when Sharon walked in. "What are you looking at?" she asked him as she sat down at the table. "I want to see how the asteroids are. Dad said I can paint them on the board" Matthew said to her. "Hmm, that's a good idea" Sharon said to him as he dipped his paint brush in the brown paint cup and started to paint the asteroids on the board. Andy walked in and saw Sharon sitting with Matthew, watching him work on his project. "Matthew, I'm going to steal Mommy away for a little bit, but I will be right back down to help you finish, okay" Andy said to Matthew as he held out his hand for Sharon to take which she did and the two of them went upstairs.

Andy was in the bathroom, fixing Sharon's bath as he added lavender bubble bath, making sure the water wasn't too hot. Sharon sat on their bed waiting for Andy to tell her that he was ready. She thought back over everything that had happened in their lives, from them secretly seeing each other when she was in charge of IA and FID to her taking over the Major Crimes division, through all of their cases and trials with Rusty, to the health scares that Andy had and their wedding day, to finding Matthew and taking him in, eventually adopting him and Moxie together. She shook her head as she fought tears forming in her eyes. They had certainly come a long way, the two of them. She looked up and saw Andy standing in the door way and smiled at him.

She walked over to him and he welcomed her in his embrace. "Your bath awaits you, my dear" he whispered to her in her ear as she entered the bathroom and saw the candles were lit around the room and the bubbles were covering the tub. "Thank you" she said to him. He kissed her. "You're welcome" he said to her as he closed the door behind him, allowing Sharon to undress and enter her bath to relax. Andy had to fight the urge he had to join her in the tub. He wanted her to relax and enjoy it. He then made his way back downstairs to help Matthew with the rest of his project.

Sharon sat in the tub, relaxing in the warmness of the water and the lavender that Andy had used to prepare her bath. She closed her eyes and sat back, as her muscles released the tension she had just from coming back to work one day. All this business with Chief Davis and who was going to be the new Assistant Chief was bogging her down. Being away in Arizona helped a little, but now Sharon was really enjoying her bath and would have to thank Andy for that later, even though she told him she would punish him for scaring her before they left to pick up Matthew from school.

Andy came down and walked in to the dining room to see that Matthew was done painting the asteroids on the board. He had also added little white spec dots for the stars in the galaxy. "Wow, that looks really good!" Andy said to Matthew as he checked the planets to make sure they were dry. "I think we are ready to assemble now" Andy said to him as they placed the sun on the board, followed by the planets in order until all of the planets were attached to the board by metal clothes hangers that Andy had cut to different sizes. "Wow! This is great!" Matthew said as he looked at his solar system and smiled a huge smile. They moved the board off the table so that they could clean up the mess with the paints, brushes, water cup, and other items that they used.

Sharon's bath water started to cool off and Sharon then decided that it might be time to step out of the bath. She then walked over to the shower to rinse her body off and then wrapped a towel around her as she drained the bath tub. She then blew out the candles that were lit and began to get dressed in an old Dodgers shirt that belonged to Andy and some yoga pants. After she was dressed, she made her way back downstairs. When she walked in to the dining room, she was surprised to see the solar system project was already finished. She saw Matthew and Andy looking at it on the table again as she came up to the table. "Wow! Matthew you did a great job with this project" Sharon said to him. "Thank you" he said to her. "I'm glad we finished it tonight" he said to Andy. "Me too, buddy" Andy said to him as he glanced at his watch. "But now, I think it's time for bed" Andy said to Matthew. "Uh, do I have to go to bed?" Matthew asked them. "Yes, you had an early morning this morning, so you should be tired" Sharon said to Matthew. "But I'm not really tired, Mommy" Matthew said as he yawned. Sharon shook her head. "Come on, let's go upstairs before you're really too tired" Sharon said to him and the two of them headed upstairs.

Andy took Moxie out so the dog could do its business before they all went to bed. He saw Rusty pulling into the driveway as he was out in the backyard. As Rusty got out of the car, Andy walked over to him. "Late night with the DA's office?" Andy asked him. "Yeah, sort of. Andrea had a big case in court today and afterwards we sat in her office to prep for tomorrow's court" Rusty said as he made his way over to the stairs for his apartment above the garage. "Did you eat?" Andy asked him. "Yes, we ordered something from this new place called Chris and Tom's, it's a pizza place nearby her office and I went out to pick it up" Rusty said to him. "How are you enjoying your internship?" Andy asked as he watched Rusty climb the stairs. Rusty stopped. "Um, it's really interesting" Rusty said to Andy and then he continued up the stairs. "Have a good night!" Andy said to him as Rusty stepped inside his place. Andy then turned around and started to walk towards the house with Moxie. He locked the back door for the night and then proceeded up to the second floor.

He saw Sharon in Matthew's room sitting on the chair waiting for Matthew to get his pajamas on and come back to his room. Matthew then ran back into his room, scooting by Andy who was standing at the door. Matthew jumped in bed and settled down, pulling the covers over him. Moxie then jumped on the bed and laid down by Matthew's feet. Sharon stood up and walked over to the side of the bed and kissed him good night. "Good night sweetie" she said to him and smiled. "Good night Mommy" he said to her as he held his wolf close to him. "Night buddy" Andy said as he waved to him and then closed the door as they stepped out into the hallway.

"How was your bath?" Andy said as he and Sharon walked into their room. "It was wonderful, thank you" Sharon said as they stepped inside their room and Andy shut their door. She went to go sit as she waited for Andy to get ready for bed. When he came out of the bathroom, wearing his pajama pants only, she looked up and smiled at him. He smiled back at her and joined her in bed. She settled into his side as he placed his arms around her, holding her close to him. "Where do you think this Travis guy has gone to?" she said to him as he held her in their bed. "I don't know, but no shop talk tonight, you need your rest" Andy sighed as he ran his hands on her arm. She laid there thinking about the case. "Please Sharon" Andy said to her as he maneuvered her body so that he was now on top of her. He looked into her deep green eyes and kissed her. She moaned in response as he made his way down her neck. "Don't think about this case, until it's morning" he whispered to her. "Hmm, well then I'm going to need something else to distract me" she said flirtatiously to him and smiled. "Oh, I'll give you something to keep your mind off of that" he said to her and then kissed her passionately.

Hours later, they both laid in bed, sleeping as Andy held Sharon close to him. The next time Sharon woke up was to her alarm going off, indicating that it was morning already. She groaned as she moved off of their bed and noticed Andy was also waking up. She turned and looked over her shoulder at him. "Good morning" she said to him. He crawled over to her side of the bed and kissed her shoulder. "Good morning" he said to her. She then got up and walked into their closet to pick out her clothes for the day. She decided to go with a pant suit instead of a skirt today, as she had a feeling they would be going out into the field today whenever they would find Travis Martin. She then made her way into their bathroom to get dressed, looking at Andy as she passed him. He was heading for their closet to pick out his clothes for the day.

The two of them got dressed and ready for work. Andy went to go get Matthew up for school and walked into his room, turning the overhead light on and saw Matthew roll over in bed. "Time to get up" Andy said to him. He moaned. "Do I have to?" Matthew said. "I'm afraid so buddy" Andy said to him as Matthew stood up from his bed. "Here, go get dressed. I'll wait for you" Andy said to him and Matthew went to his bathroom and got ready for school. Sharon walked out in to the hallway and saw Andy was waiting for Matthew to get ready. "I'm going to go downstairs. I can let the dog out" she said to him and Moxie followed her down.

Matthew came back in his room, ready for school as he put his pajamas in his hamper. Matthew looked at Andy and then sat on his bed. "Can I ask you a question?" Matthew said to Andy. Andy knelt down in front of him. "Sure buddy" Andy said to him. "If the bad guys went after Mommy, would you protect her?" Matthew asked him innocently. Andy wasn't sure what had brought this question up but he answered Matthew. "Yes, I would do anything to protect her" Andy said to him. Matthew then stood up from his bed and they went downstairs to have breakfast and get ready for the day.

Matthew carried his solar system project out to the car and Andy opened the lift gate for him to place it in the back, where it could lie flat. He then went back inside to get his backpack and Moxie, as Sharon was waiting for him. Sharon and Matthew then walked back to the car with Moxie and Moxie jumped in the backseat. "Do you have everything?" Andy asked both Sharon and Matthew. "Yes" Matthew said to him as he put his seatbelt on. Sharon got in her side and sat down. "Yes, I have everything" she said to him and he then sat in the driver's seat and started the car. He drove them to Matthew's school and pulled into the parking lot and found a spot. "Do you need help with that?" Andy asked Matthew as he opened the lift gate and helped Matthew take it out of the car. "No, I got it. Thanks Dad!" Matthew said to Andy as he closed the lift gate. "Be careful" Matthew told him. "I will buddy" Andy said back to him as he watched him say good bye to Sharon and then walk over to the school entrance where he proceeded to walk inside with his project, talking with some boys on the way in.

They went back inside the car. "What's with the be careful?" Sharon asked Andy as he pulled out of the parking lot and headed over to drop Moxie off. "I don't know, he asked me this morning if I would protect you and I told him that I would do anything to protect you" Andy said as he drove. Sharon looked at him and then looked out her window. They dropped Moxie off at the doggie day care place and headed into work.

As they entered the Murder Room, everyone was already there. "Captain! I think I finally found out where that money was going to every couple of weeks" Mike said from his desk to Sharon. Sharon walked over to where he was sitting and Mike showed her what he had found out. "The deposits were to a general fund for this group" Mike said as he pointed to the name of the group on his screen. Sharon read it and then looked at the rest of her team. "What? What is it?" Andy asked her as he moved closer to her. "He's been making deposits into the Hell's Angels general fund" Sharon said to them as she stood up from looking at Mike's computer. "Great" Andy muttered. "Well, is he a full-fledged member?" Provenza asked. "You don't have to be, sir" Julio said as Amy hung up her phone. "Captain, sorry to interrupt but SIS just spotted Travis Martin going into his house. It looked like he was carrying a black bag of some sort" Amy said to Sharon. Sharon nodded and then turned around to Mike. "How were you able to find this out?" Sharon asked him. "I asked my buddy down in financial crimes to see what he could do" Mike said as he stood up from his desk.

"Alright, I want everyone to wear their vests, we don't know what this guy is capable of or where he's been for the last couple of days" Sharon said as she placed her things on her desk and headed back out in to the room. "Buzz, you'll ride with Amy and Julio, please be careful" Sharon told Buzz. "I will Captain" he said as he put his vest on and grabbed his camera. "Here's the address we are going to. Let's go people" Provenza said to the team as they headed out to the elevators and eventually, they got into their cars and started to head over to Travis Martin's house.

Andy drove through the streets following Provenza and Mike. Sharon was on the radio informing the teams of what they would do once they arrived at the house. She then called Lieutenant Cooper to let him know they were on their way to the house to arrest Travis Martin as Mike had secured the arrest warrant this morning before they got there. "Promise me you'll stick behind me when we get there" Andy said to Sharon as they continued to drive. Sharon looked at him and he looked very serious about what he had said to her. "I will" she said to him as they pulled down the street the house was located on.

As the cars pulled up, the team got out of them and started to walk behind the cars. Andy stepped out of the car and walked around the front of it to meet Sharon. As she stepped out of the car, Andy closed her door and that's when bullets started to fly passed them. Andy turned around and saw someone standing on the porch of the house firing at them and he turned around to grab Sharon and pushed her to the ground behind their car. He landed on top of her and she hit the ground hard. Return fire was coming from Julio, Mike, Amy, and Provenza. Sharon looked up at Andy and saw the look of pain flash across his face. Travis Martin then retreated inside his house and the bullets stopped. "Andy" she said to him as panic started to set in as he laid on top of her in the street.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise

 **A/N:** Thank you for sticking by the cliffhanger! And thank you all for the reviews so far. For those of you that find it hard to follow due to the spacing, sorry. For the people who don't like that I tell you who said what, that's just how I write. Oh, and for those who want Sharon to be pregnant in this story, I'm not sure with that one. Anyway, here is the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy reading it! The words in italics represent what happened during the shoot out and Sharon thinking back. Thank you!

Chapter 5

" _Shots fired! I repeat, shots fired, officers are down! Requesting assistance!" Provenza yelled into the portable radio as he glanced over at Julio, who was crouched behind his police vehicle. Mike was right there next to Julio, hiding behind the car. There were bullets spraying all over the place at their vehicles. Provenza was crouched behind the driver's side tire. He hoped that any bullets that came his way would be blocked by the engine of the car._

 _Provenza looked around him to the other side. He saw Andy's car but couldn't see him or the Captain. He looked around for Amy and Buzz. He saw Amy peek her head over the vehicle directly behind him. They returned fire at the assailant. There was a lull from the bullets being sprayed at them. "Buzz!" he yelled out waiting for an answer. "Yes sir!" he heard Buzz say. "Stay where you are!" he commanded him._

 _Provenza then moved around to find Andy and the Captain. "Lieutenant!" he heard Sharon yell. He moved quickly over to the back of their car and that where he saw Sharon kneeling over Andy, and applying pressure to the bullet wound he had sustained in his shoulder, and right below the vest on his left side. "Andy, no Andy" he said as he joined Sharon and applied his hand to Andy's shoulder to try and stop the bleeding. "Ahh!" Andy cried out in pain._

" _Hey! We need help over here!" Provenza called out. Mike came over to the as Amy and Julio watched their six. "Is there an exit wound?" Mike asked Sharon and Provenza. Sharon shook her head. "I didn't feel one" she said in a shaky voice. Andy looked at Sharon eyes as he lied on the ground. He couldn't form words to tell her at the moment but his voice was screaming inside his head. "Stay with me, Andy" she said to him._

 _Four hours later….._

"Lieutenant?" Sharon said to Provenza as he still sat in the chair in the waiting room. He looked over at her, her shirt covered in blood and swallowed. "Any news?" he said sadly to her as she sat down next to him and grabbed his hand. She shook her head and took a deep breath. "He'll be okay, Sharon" Provenza always said that to Sharon the various times they found themselves in the waiting room of a hospital. He hoped he was right this time as they waited to hear from someone, anyone on the condition of Andy.

Sharon sat there playing with Andy's wedding ring on her finger. She had taken all of his jewelry in the ambulance so that it wouldn't get lost in the shuffle. "How's your head?" he asked her. "It's fine" she said as she sat there. Right now all she wanted was for Andy to be okay, she'd worry about her headache later.

"Why don't you change your clothes, Rusty is going to be here any minute with Matthew and the kid shouldn't see his father's blood, you wouldn't want him to see it either" Provenza told Sharon as Patrice walked in to the ER waiting room, carrying a bag of clothes for Sharon. Sharon stared straight ahead.

Patrice touched Sharon's shoulder, breaking her stare as she looked up at her. "Come on, I'll help you" Patrice said to Sharon as she held out her hand for Sharon to take. Sharon looked at Provenza. "I promise you if I hear anything, I'll come and get you" Provenza said to Sharon who nodded and then left with Patrice to change her clothes.

In the bathroom of the waiting room, Sharon stared at herself in the mirror. She looked at the blood that was on her shirt. She could tell where her vest was because there wasn't any blood in that area. Patrice watched her and as the door opened to reveal another woman entering the bathroom, Patrice turned around and asked the woman to use another room just down the hall from them. The woman nodded and closed the door. Patrice then turned around to watch Sharon.

Sharon hung her head over the sink, gripping the edges of the sink with her hands. "I can't lose him" she said quietly to Patrice. "I can't lose him, Patrice" she started to cry, her shoulders moving as her body shook. "There was so much blood" she cried. Patrice held her as she cried, knowing all too well the difficulties and the tragedy of losing a husband to the job. "I know Sharon, I know" Patrice said to her as she comforted Sharon. "Come on, let's get you changed and then back outside. Matthew should be here by then" Patrice said to Sharon. Sharon nodded and then walked into a stall to change her clothes.

She felt sick and threw up in the toilet a couple of times until she was dry heaving. Patrice knocked on the stall's door. "Sharon?" she said. "I'm fine" Sharon said. She came out a couple of minutes later, carrying the shirt with Andy's blood on it rolled up into a ball. Patrice held out a plastic bag and Sharon placed the clothes in there and then Patrice placed that inside the duffle bag. Sharon wiped her mouth with a paper towel and threw it away. Then they walked out of the bathroom, back to the waiting area where the rest of her team had gathered.

"Mrs. Flynn?" a nurse wearing scrubs came out in to the waiting room. Sharon looked up and walked over to the nurse. "Yes" she said to the nurse. "Your husband is stable, they were able to remove the two bullets from his shoulder and lower abdomen. The bullets didn't hit anything major, just muscle tissue" the nurse started to say to Sharon. "There was a lot of bleeding due to the medication your husband currently takes. It was a little touch and go there for a while but the doctors were able to stop the bleeding" the nurse said to her.

Sharon stood there trying to listen to what she was saying. "Your husband is going to be fine" the nurse added. Sharon let out the breath that she had been holding since the nurse started speaking with her. "Thank you" Sharon said to the nurse. "He's going to be in the Surgery ICU. If you want to, you can sit with him in there" the nurse said. Sharon nodded and then looked back at the rest of them.

"Go, go sit with him" Provenza told her. Sharon looked at him with relief and worry in her eyes. "What about Matthew, I don't want him to be worried or scared" Sharon said to him. "We'll wait for everyone and I'll let you know when Matthew gets here" he said to her and then Sharon left with the nurse.

Provenza ran his hand through his hair and down his face. He looked at Patrice and she gave him a hug. "Flynn has almost used all of his nine lives up" he said to Patrice as they went back to the chairs to have a seat. "He's going to be fine" Provenza told the rest of the team, including Chief Howard, as he sat down. "He's in recovery now and will be moved to the Surgery ICU. The Captain went there to sit with him" Provenza added and the team was relieved.

The outside doors opened again and Rusty walked in with Matthew, who was still wearing his school uniform and carried his backpack with him. "We came straight here from his school, any word yet, Lieutenant?" Rusty asked Provenza as Patrice motioned for Matthew to sit next to her. Provenza stood up and walked with Rusty to a private area out of earshot from Matthew.

Rusty looked at Provenza as he ushered him over to the other side of the waiting room. "He's not dead, is he?" Rusty had asked him. "No, he's not" Provenza huffed as he shook his head. "Sorry, Rusty, it's just been a trying day" Provenza added. "Andy is stable, he was shot twice, but the doctors were able to remove the bullets from him, and they said there wasn't any major damage" Provenza said to Rusty. Rusty let out a breath and swallowed. "Was anybody else hit?" Rusty asked him. "No, just Andy" he said.

"When Mom called me, she said something happened to Andy but didn't go into details, just if I could pick up Matthew from school and bring him here" Rusty said as he stood there with Provenza. Rusty looked around the waiting room and saw that everyone from the team was still there. "Your mom went to go sit with him in the ICU" Provenza said as Rusty had a questionable look on his face. "Did you let the other kids know what happened?" Rusty asked Provenza and then Nicole walked into the waiting room.

"Nicole" Rusty said to her as she walked in. "Rusty, Lieutenant Provenza" Nicole said to them as she walked to them. "How's my father?" she asked him as she looked around the room at everybody. "He's stable, Sharon's sitting with him in the ICU" Provenza said to her as they went to sit down by Patrice and Matthew, who was reading a book.

Matthew saw Nicole walk over to where he was sitting with Patrice. "Instead of repeating myself, I'm going to tell the three of you what happened" Provenza said to Nicole, Rusty, and Matthew. "Ah, sweetie, I don't think Sharon wants" Patrice started to say to Provenza as she nodded her head towards Matthew.

Matthew looked at everyone. "Why? What's going on? Where's Mommy and Daddy at? Rusty just picked me up and said we had to come to the hospital because Daddy got injured" Matthew said as he was getting upset. Provenza looked at Patrice who placed her hand on Matthew's shoulder to comfort him.

"Matthew, everything's going to be fine. Your mom is with your dad right now. He had to have surgery" Patrice told him. "Why?" Matthew asked her. "Well, you see a bad person shot your dad" Provenza said to him. Matthew looked at Provenza and then at Rusty and Nicole. "No!" Matthew said and then he got up from his chair and ran out the door. Patrice and Provenza looked at each other and stood up to follow but Rusty and Nicole got up first. "We got this" Nicole said as she went after Matthew, with Rusty behind her.

They found Matthew sitting on a bench by a tree on the hospital grounds near the doors to the emergency room waiting area. Nicole and Rusty had a seat next to him on both sides. Nicole placed her arm around Matthew. Matthew cried into Nicole's side as she comforted him. Rusty watched him. He never lost a parent before but Matthew had lost his real mom and he seemed really scared now.

"It's going to be okay, Matthew. Dad's going to be okay" Nicole said to Matthew as she tried to comfort her step-brother. "He promised me that he would be careful this morning. That he would always protect Mommy, no matter what" Matthew said as he cried. "He did protect her" Rusty said to him as he placed his hand on Matthew's arm.

Just then, Rusty's phone started bombarding him with text messages from Ricky, Emily, and Gus. He pulled out his phone and read them all. He decided to do a group message, and included Nicole and Charlie on it. "I included you on a group text, so that's my text you just got" Rusty said to Nicole. Matthew was now curled into her side as the three of them sat on the bench.

Sharon walked in to the Surgery ICU room that Andy was located in. She was taken back by all the items in his room and she had to catch her breath. He was hooked up to a monitor again, and from what Sharon could tell, his heart rate looked good, which was a relief. She saw that he was also hooked up to an IV, and there was a bag of blood hanging on the pole as well. "When he wakes up, he's going to be in some pain" the nurse said as she checked his vitals. Sharon looked at his face, his eyes were still closed, he looked pale, and the nurse told her that it would be awhile before he would start to wake up.

"He looks so pale" Sharon said out loud. "That's due to the blood loss" the nurse said to her. "He'll get his color back once he's done receiving the blood we are giving him" the nurse added, giving Sharon a reassuring smile as she left. Sharon sat down on the chair next to his bed and grabbed his left hand, it was too cold for Sharon's liking but she figured that his body temperature would also start to warm up. She took his hand and slipped his wedding band back on his finger. She wanted him to have it, even though he wasn't awake yet. She then held onto his hand, interlacing her fingers with his and sat back, waited, and prayed as tears started to form again in her eyes.

Provenza pulled out his phone and started to text Sharon. "Louie, what are you doing?" Patrice asked him as he pulled out his phone. "The Captain wanted to know when her sons got here, I was just going to let her know that" Provenza said to his wife. Sharon's phone vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out, glancing quickly at the message. She was glad that Rusty had brought Matthew here. Hopefully they would not be waiting too long and once they got Andy into a permanent room, he would be able to have more visitors. She wiped the tears from her face as she continued to watch Andy.

Matthew's stomach growled as they sat on the bench outside the hospital. "Sorry" Matthew said as it growled loudly this time. "Don't need to be sorry, do you want to get something to eat?" Nicole said to him. Matthew nodded his head and then she stood up from the bench. She held out her hand for Matthew to take and he did. "I think we are going to head to the cafeteria while we wait to hear from your mom" Nicole said to Rusty as he got up as well. The three of them headed back inside the waiting room and walked over to where Provenza and Patrice were sitting.

"Are you okay?" Patrice asked Matthew and he nodded his head. Patrice then rubbed his eyes with a Kleenex and then handed another one to him. Matthew blew his nose in it and then walked over to the garbage can and placed the Kleenex inside it. "We're going to head to the cafeteria while we wait. Matthew's a little hungry now" Nicole told them. "I'll go with you" Patrice said to her and Nicole was grateful for that. Rusty stayed behind with Provenza.

Meanwhile, Sharon had closed her eyes as she sat there, and she jolted herself awake. She was still sitting in the chair next to Andy's bed, and still holding his hand. She had lost track of time while she sat there. She looked at the clock on the wall, it was now 5 o'clock at night. She glanced at Andy's face and was surprised to see his eyes were open and they were looking back at her. He tried smiling at her but grimaced instead. "Are you in pain?" she asked him. "No" he said quietly in a raspy voice.

She moved closer and kissed him. His lips were dry. "I love you Andy" she said as she caressed his face with her hand. He smiled and closed his eyes again. Sharon took a deep breath and sat back down on the chair. Andy opened his eyes again and looked over at her. "I want to hold you" he whispered and tried scooting over on his bed, but he couldn't do it. "Don't do that, you'll pull your stitches out" Sharon said as she lowered the rails on the one side of his bed and sat down next to him.

Andy reached for Sharon with his left hand and placed it on her waist. He went to move his right hand over, but since that hand had the IV needle in it, it was too painful to move over. "Tell me what happened?" he said looking in her eyes as he focused on her again. She watched him. "You don't remember?" she hesitated a little. "I remember getting shot and then looking up at you" he said as he closed his eyes again. Sharon caressed his left arm as he laid his arm over her legs. Sharon took a deep breath and then started to talk.

"Provenza called it in over the radio. You went down hard on top of me. I think I may have hit my head on the ground. I thought you were just protecting me from the bullets being sprayed over us but then I saw the look in your eyes" Sharon stopped. She looked at him with tears in her eyes again. He opened his eyes again. "I moved you off me and laid you on the ground, seeing the blood from the gunshots. I called for help and both Provenza and Mike came over. Cover fire was from Julio and Amy" Sharon paused again. "You were losing so much blood, Andy. I couldn't stop it" she whispered to him. Andy moved his hand on her waist to her arm and eventually her hand and held it. "I'm sorry" he said as he watched her go through the shooting in her head again.

"I kept telling you to stay with me, but you kept closing your eyes" Sharon said to him. "The doctors pulled out the two bullets that hit you, they had trouble stopping your bleeding but they were able to counteract it somehow. The bullets didn't hit anything major, mostly muscle tissue" she said shaking her head. "Other police officers, including SIS, and the ambulance came almost simultaneously. They cleared the area and advanced on the house, killing Travis Martin. The paramedics loaded you into the ambulance and I rode with you. There was so much blood on my shirt, they kept asking me if I was hit as well. I held your hand the whole time. We got to the ER and they rushed you inside. A nurse came out a couple of minutes later stating that they were taking you up immediately for surgery" she said as she thought back.

" _They're taking your husband up for surgery right now, it's going to be a couple hours" the nurse said to Sharon. Sharon nodded as the nurse placed her hand on Sharon's shoulder. "Come on, let's have a seat over here" she said to Sharon, showing her the way to the waiting area. "Is there anybody else here with you?" she asked Sharon. Sharon looked back at the nurse with a blank stare. "My team is on their way over" Sharon said to her._

 _Twenty minutes later, Provenza walked through the doors and saw Sharon sitting on one of the chairs. The nurse left once Provenza sat down next to Sharon. "Anything?" he asked her. "They took him up for surgery" Sharon said to Provenza. He nodded and then pulled out his phone to call Patrice. Sharon didn't want to sit on the chair anymore so she stood up. "Where are you going?" Provenza asked her. "I can't sit here not knowing what's happening with Andy. I can't" Sharon said and then walked away._

 _She didn't know the direction she was walking in but somehow found the hospital chapel and walked inside. She took the holy water as she entered and made the sign of the cross with it. She took a seat in one of the small pews and stared at the candles that were lined in front of the chapel. She was the only one inside at the time. She knelt down and began to pray._

 _The hospital's priest stepped out from behind the front area and saw that he had someone in the chapel, praying. He walked over to the pew that Sharon was sitting in and sat down. "Were you with the Lieutenant that was brought in recently with a gunshot wound?" he asked her quietly. She looked over at the priest and nodded, tears in her eyes. "Yes, he's my husband" she said quietly. The priest nodded his head and lowered it saying a little prayer before speaking to Sharon again._

" _You're also with the police, right?" the priest asked her. "Yes, I'm a Captain, in charge of a team. We were ambushed today as we approached a suspect's house" Sharon said to him. "That must be difficult, to be in charge of someone you love and having to send t hem out in to harm's way" the priest asked her. "He loves his job" she said to him. "Would you like to pray together?" the priest asked her. Sharon nodded and the priest moved closer to her, grabbed her hand, and they prayed together._

 _Sharon then left the chapel and made her way back to the waiting room where she saw Provenza still sitting there where she had left him earlier. She had passed by the nurses' station but they just said that Andy was still in surgery, it had been almost four hours since they got ambushed. She then approached Provenza. "Lieutenant" she said to him._

Sharon watched Andy as he lied there in the hospital bed. He fell back asleep not too long after she told him what had happened. A nurse had walked in as Sharon sat back down on the chair that was next to his bed, still holding onto his hand. "How's he doing?" the nurse asked her. "He was awake for a couple of minutes, but fell back asleep" Sharon said to her. "He will do that, probably till he's done with the pain medication, dear" the nurse said to her.

Sharon then realized that he didn't want any opiates for pain medication administered to him. "What type of pain medication is he on because he's a recovering alcoholic and he doesn't want" Sharon started rambling on to the nurse but the nurse reassured her. "We know, it's written in his charts here. We are giving him a pain medication that's a non-narcotic" she said to Sharon and Sharon relaxed as she continued to watch Andy sleep.

Matthew returned to the waiting room with Nicole and Patrice. He sat down next to Provenza. "Did my Mommy come back yet?" Matthew asked him. "No, but she knows that you're here waiting. I'm sure she will be out to see you anytime now" Provenza said to Matthew as Matthew looked at the floor. "You know, Matthew, you never did get to tell me how you liked Spring Training" Provenza said to him as he was trying to get the boy's mind off of what was happening. "It was nice" Matthew said in a sad voice.

Provenza looked at Matthew and it broke his heart. "Your dad is going to be okay, Matthew. He's not going to leave you" Provenza said to him in a low voice. Matthew nodded as he still looked at the floor. "When can I see him?" he asked Provenza. Provenza took a deep breath and sighed. "Soon, Matthew. Hopefully, soon" Provenza said to him as he placed his arm around Matthew's shoulder.

As Andy was still sleeping, Sharon slipped out of his room in the Surgery ICU and found a nurse at the nurse's station. "Excuse me, I'm just going to let the people know in the waiting room how he's doing and I'll be right back" Sharon said to one of the nurses there. "Okay ma'am" the nurse said to her and Sharon walked down the hallway towards the waiting area. She took a deep breath before walking out.

She was greeted by Matthew, who as soon as she stepped in to the room, ran up to her and gave her a hug. "Oh Matthew" she said to him as she clung to the boy. She pulled back from their embrace to look at him. "Is Daddy going to be okay?" he said to her in a pleading voice. She nodded to him and then looked over at everyone else who was sitting there, Nicole, Rusty, Provenza, and Patrice. The rest of her team had been sent home by Provenza over an hour ago.

"How's Dad doing?" Nicole asked Sharon as she walked over to her. "He's sleeping right now. He was awake for a couple of minutes and we talked" Sharon said to her. "If you want to go see him, you can. I can show you the way to his room" Sharon said to her. "I'd like that, then I'd need to get home to the boys and Dean" Nicole said as Sharon nodded and then grabbed her hand. "I'll be right back, Matthew" Sharon said to him as he held onto her. He looked at her and let go. He headed back to where he was sitting earlier between Provenza and Patrice.

Sharon walked with Nicole down the hallway and they entered Andy's room. Nicole gasped as she saw her dad lying on the hospital bed. "He looks pale" Nicole said to Sharon in a worried voice. Sharon grabbed Nicole's hand and pulled her into her side. "It's due to the blood loss he had, but the nurse reassured me his color would come back" Sharon said to her and Nicole nodded slightly.

Nicole took a shaky breath. "What happened?" Nicole asked her. "We pulled up to our suspect's house this morning in order to arrest them and when we got out of the car, we were met with bullets spraying at us. Your father pulled me down as we ducked behind our car. I didn't realize he was hit" Sharon said, not wanting to say anything more. Nicole walked over to Andy and took his hand in hers, giving it a little squeeze and then released it.

Nicole turned to Sharon before exiting his room. "Do you need anything?" Nicole asked Sharon. "No, I'm okay" Sharon said to her. Nicole exited the room. Sharon looked at Andy one more time before she followed Nicole out in to the hallway.

"Our son is 9 years old and he wants to see his dad for a couple of minutes. Do you think I can bring him in here?" Sharon asked the nurse as she walked passed her. "Usually we have an age limit here for visitors, no one under 13 is allowed in the SICU, but we can let him in here to see his father" the nurse said to Sharon. "Thank you" Sharon said and then followed Nicole back out to the waiting room.

Rusty was standing by the door as Nicole and Sharon walked out. Sharon walked over to him. "How are you holding up?" he asked Sharon. "I've been better" Sharon said to him as she placed her hand on his arm and then walked over to where Matthew was sitting. "Matthew, one of the nurses said that you could come back with me to see Daddy for a couple of minutes" Sharon said to him. Matthew's eyes lit up and he stood up from the chair and walked with Sharon towards Andy's room.

Patrice looked over at her husband. "Louie, I think we should offer to either take Matthew to their house and stay there with him, or we should bring him home with us. Sharon is probably going to stay here with Andy" Patrice said to Provenza. Provenza looked at her and nodded. Rusty walked over to them and sat back down. "Your mother is going to need you again" Provenza said to Rusty. "Yeah, I guess I never realized how dangerous your jobs really are" Rusty said to him.

Before Sharon brought Matthew inside Andy's room, she stopped him out in the hallway. "Now, it might be a little scary seeing Daddy laying there. You're going to see him hooked up to certain things, they are all there to help him get better, okay?" she said to Matthew and Matthew nodded.

They walked in to Andy's room. Matthew looked at Andy, who was still sleeping. He saw the IV going into his right hand and he saw the glimpse of a bandage on his left shoulder. "Can I touch him?" Matthew asked Sharon. Sharon looked at Matthew and nodded. "Yes, you can touch him, be gentle" Sharon said to him as she moved with Matthew closer to Andy.

Matthew reached his hand out and touched Andy's left hand. "Get better Daddy" Matthew said to Andy and then turned around and hugged Sharon. Sharon embraced him, holding him tight to her. "Matthew, can you do me a favor?" Sharon said as she looked at Matthew's face and he nodded his head. "I need you to be very brave for the next couple of days while Daddy recovers in the hospital" Sharon said to him. "Okay" Matthew said to her.

"I'm going to stay here with Daddy tonight so you're going to go home with Rusty or Patrice and Lieutenant Provenza, okay?" Sharon said to him and Matthew nodded his head. "Do you have homework?" she asked him. "Yes" he said. "Okay, I need you to do your homework and listen to them, alright?" Sharon said as she ran her hand through his hair, smoothing it down.

"Okay" Matthew said and then turned around to look at Andy again. "Come on, let's go back outside" Sharon said to him as she took his hand and they walked back to the waiting room. She brought him back outside to where they were sitting. Provenza, Patrice, and Rusty all stood up from their chairs. Sharon gave them a small smile as Patrice placed her hand on Sharon's arm.

Before Sharon could ask them to take Matthew home, Patrice spoke to her. "Listen Sharon, we know you are going to be staying here with Andy so we thought that we would take Matthew home, and stay with him there" Patrice said to her. "I was just going to ask you if you could do that. There's the guest room there and" Sharon started to say to Patrice but she stopped her. "We got it, Sharon" she said to her and then gave her a hug.

Provenza then gave Sharon a hug, which was unusual for him because he never really showed her affection before. "Flynn better recover quickly so that I can bust his ass for doing this again to you" Provenza said to Sharon as he hugged her. She chuckled as she broke away from him and wiped a tear from her eye.

"I asked Gus to pick up Moxie from the doggie day care place and he just texted me to let me know he brought him home" Rusty said to Sharon. She looked at Rusty and cupped his chin with her hand. "Thank you" she said to him. She then turned to Matthew. "Remember what I told you" Sharon said to him. "I will Mommy" Matthew said and gave her a hug. The four of them left leaving Sharon there and she turned around and walked back to be with Andy.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise

Chapter 6

Sharon returned to Andy's room to see that he was still asleep. She sighed as she sat down on the chair next to him. She returned her hand to his and held it. She had leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes for what she thought was a couple of seconds. The next thing she knew, she felt someone caressing her hand and as she woke up, she saw Andy's eyes looking back at her.

"Hi" he whispered to her. "Hi" she said to him as she shifted forward in her chair. She smiled at him and he smiled back, this time with no pain showing on his face. "How long have you been awake?" she asked Andy as she leaned forward, moving closer to him. "An hour I think?" he answered her as he looked into her eyes. He could tell she had not been sleeping well since they had returned from their trip to Arizona.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Sharon said to Andy as she glanced at the clock in his room. It was now close to ten at night. "You looked peaceful, I didn't have the heart to wake you" he said to her and she giggled. "Hmm. How are you feeling?" Sharon said to him. "I'm still here" he said to her as took her hand and brought it up to his lips. She smiled at the gesture. She then looked up at the IV pole and noticed that the blood bag was no longer hanging and Andy's color was returning to normal. She caressed his face and leaned closer to him. "I've missed you" she said to him as she kissed his lips.

"I made a promise to you" he said to her as they looked at each other. She smiled. "You need to stop being in the hospital" she laughed as they continued to hold each other's hand. "I'm beginning to think you like it when you have to take care of me, always wanting me in bed" Andy said to her. "Hmm, in bed, yes, but not a hospital bed, hooked up to IVs and such" she said to him as she leaned forward to kiss him again.

Just then a nurse walked into his room. He checked Andy's vitals and wrote them down in his chart. "How are you feeling, Lieutenant?" the nurse asked him. "Um, I feel a little better. I'm kind of hungry" Andy said to the nurse. "Well, that's a good sign. I'm not sure what we can get you this late at night, but I will see what we can do" the nurse said to him and then he left.

Sharon looked back at Andy after watching the nurse leave the room. "Matthew stopped by to see you, but you were still sleeping" Sharon said to him. "How's he doing?" he asked her. "Um, I heard that he had a problem the first couple of minutes Rusty brought him, but Nicole was able to calm him down and when I went back to the waiting area, he was okay" Sharon told him and Andy took a deep breath and sighed. "Poor kid, he was probably scared" Andy said to her and she nodded. "I spoke to him and told him that you were going to be okay. He wanted to see you so I brought him in here for a couple of minutes" she said to him as she played around with his bracelet that she was wearing on her wrist.

"Where's he now, with Nicole?" Andy asked her as she was looking down at the bracelet. "Patrice and Provenza offered to take him home and stay with him there" Sharon said to him as she looked back up at his face, tears starting to form in her eyes again.

He looked at her and tugged on her hand to get her to move closer to him. "Come here" he said to her as she moved forward to sit on the bed with him. "I don't want to hurt you" Sharon said to him as she carefully sat down on his bed. "You're not going to, trust me" Andy said to her as he brought her down to him. She placed her hands carefully on both sides of his bed and she laid her head on his chest as he wanted her to.

"Let it out, sweetheart" he whispered to her and she started to cry. He wasn't feeling any pain at the moment so he focused on holding Sharon close to him as possible. "I thought I was going to lose you" she said to him in between the tears falling down her face on onto his sheets. "Shhh, I'm right here. You can't get rid of me that easily, haven't you learned that over the last seven months" Andy said to her as he held onto her.

Just then there was a knock on his door and another nurse came in holding a tray. Sharon sat up quickly and wiped the tears from her face. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anything but David mentioned that you were feeling a bit hungry. We spoke to the doctor and she said we could start to give you some liquids and soft solids" the nurse said to Andy as she sat the tray down on his tray table by the bed.

"Thank you" Sharon said to the nurse as she left the room. Andy looked at his tray with a disgusted look on his face. "Ugh, green Jell-O again?" he said, trying to not complain. He also had some chicken broth in a bowl. "Looks delicious Andy" Sharon said trying to encourage him to eat. "Do you want some?" he asked her. "No, you need to eat. I'll be fine" she said to him as she watched him take tiny sips of the broth.

Andy then ate the Jell-O and after he was done, Sharon placed the tray over to the side of his bed and sat down next to him. She needed to be as close as she could to him, without hurting him. Andy watched Sharon as she fidgeted with his hospital gown. "Do you want to see the incisions?" Andy asked her with a lopsided grin on his face. "No" she whispered to him and then glanced at the clock. "You should get some rest, Andy. I'm going to sit on the chair" Sharon said to him as she got up from his bed side and moved the chair closer to his bed.

"I'm going to step outside first and see how things are at home with Matthew, is that okay?" Sharon said to Andy as he watched her walk around his room. "Yes, I'm not going anywhere, for a while at least" Andy said to her and smiled. She smiled back and stepped out of his room. Andy let out a sigh as he watched her walk away. He was feeling pretty good for getting shot twice. He's been shot before when he started out on the job and a couple of years later. This time it felt different. Maybe because he was with Sharon now. He wanted to make sure that he would still be awake when Sharon came back. He thought he would turn on the TV, that should keep him awake until she came back to him. He sat back and flipped through the channels.

Sharon stepped outside and dialed Provenza's number. It rang a couple of times before he answered it. "Captain, is everything okay?" he said as he answered it. "Yes, he's awake and had some Jell-O and broth to eat a couple of minutes ago" Sharon said to him as she took a breath. "I just wanted to know how Matthew was doing" she asked him. "He's fine, just finishing up his homework and Patrice was going over it with him" Provenza said to her. "Okay, good" she said as she stopped pacing outside by the ER door.

"We got this end, Sharon. You just concentrate on taking care of Flynn" Provenza said to her and she smiled. "Thank you Lieutenant" Sharon said but before she hung up she asked him for one more favor. A few seconds later, Matthew was on the phone. "Good night sweetie" she said to him. "Good night Mommy" Matthew said back to her and then she hung up her phone.

Sharon then made her way back upstairs to the Surgery ICU floor and found her way to Andy's room. When she walked inside, she noticed that the TV was turned on, but the volume was on low. She looked at Andy and he was sleeping again. She smiled and then made her way around his bed to the chair that she had pulled up.

The chair was a recliner, so as soon as Sharon sat in it, she moved the feet up so that she could be more comfortable. She then grabbed Andy's left hand and held it in hers. She looked up at the TV to see what Andy was possibly watching while he waited for her to come back. It was some crime show and there was a police chase occurring. Sharon shook her head. 'As if we don't get enough of this in real life' she thought to herself as she changed the channel to another station. "Hey, I was watching that" Andy muttered to her in a low voice.

Sharon looked at him and smiled. "You were sleeping, honey. How could you be watching that?" she said to him as she turned the channel back on to the police chase. "There's this really hot police captain on the show, but not as hot as you, sweetheart" Andy said half-awake as he watched the TV. He smiled at her with a lop sided grin again.

"Hmm, her lieutenant seems to be intriguing as well" Sharon said as she watched this show with him. "But he's not a sexy or as smart as you are" she added as she leaned in and kissed him on his cheek. She sat back down and they watched the rest of the show. Andy fell asleep again and Sharon turned the TV off, and settled back in the recliner chair for the night, holding Andy's hand in hers.

A nurse came in after midnight to check on Andy's vitals as he was sleeping. Sharon heard a rustling noise and opened her eyes to see the nurse in the room. "Sorry to wake you honey, but I need to check your husband's vitals" the nurse said to Sharon as she shifted in her chair. "Oh, no problem" Sharon said to her as she blinked a couple of times to get the sleep out of her eyes.

"He's doing really good, honey. He might be moved to a regular room later on in the morning. We'll see what the doctor says when she makes her rounds later this morning" the nurse told Sharon as she moved around the room and then left leaving Sharon and Andy alone together.

Sharon glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was closer to 2 o'clock in the morning. She was still holding Andy's hand in hers and it felt like it was getting back the warmth unlike when she first touched his hand yesterday. She watched him sleep and questions started to flood her mind. 'Why would someone like Travis Martin do something like murder his investor and then start shooting at the police' she thought. She shook her head and continued to watch him.

Meanwhile, across town at the Flynn house, Matthew woke up and got out of his bed. He walked over to Sharon and Andy's bedroom but forgot that they weren't there. He then walked over to the guest room and knocked on the door.

A minute later, the door opened to reveal Provenza standing there in a sweatshirt and a pair of sleep pants as he stared at Matthew. "Matthew, what's the matter?" he asked Matthew. "I can't sleep" Matthew said to him. Provenza turned to look at Patrice, who was still sleeping and then walked out into the hallway with Matthew.

"Oh, well did you try reading a book?" Provenza asked him. Matthew nodded his head. Provenza sighed. "Come on" Provenza said as he started to walk back to Matthew's room. He noticed Moxie was still sleeping on Matthew's bed. Matthew climbed back on his bed and handed a book to Provenza. "Can you read this one?" he asked as Provenza took it from him. "Huh, Batman" Provenza muttered to himself and then went to go sit down on the chair in Matthew's room. He then began to read Matthew the story.

Patrice woke up two hours later and didn't see Provenza in the room with her. She thought she would go search for him, maybe Matthew had a problem during the night. Patrice walked out of the guest room wearing her robe over her pajama top and pants. She made her way over to Matthew's room as she saw a light coming from the door crack. She slowly opened the door and the sight before her eyes melted her heart.

"Oh Louie" she said to herself as she saw Provenza sitting on the chair in Matthew's room, sleeping and snoring softly. He still was holding a book in his lap. She then looked over at Matthew who was sleeping with his head at the foot of the bed, as if he was listening to Provenza read him the story. She hated to wake him up but he would be even grumpier if she didn't and he got a stiff neck from sleeping upright in that chair.

She walked over to him and gently shook his shoulder. "Louie, Louie" she called his name softly. Provenza woke up. "What? What?" he said still sleeping as he opened his eyes and saw Patrice standing over him. "Oh, yeah, the kid came into our room last night, he couldn't sleep so I read him one of his Batman stories" Provenza started to tell Patrice as she ran her hand on his shoulder.

"I guess I must have fell asleep in here too" he said to her as he looked over at Matthew who was still sleeping. "Come on" Patrice said to him as she tugged on his hand. Provenza stood up from the chair and followed Patrice out of Matthew's room. "What time is it?" he asked her when they got into the hallway. "A little after 4 in the morning" Patrice said as they made their way back to the guest room where they were staying. Patrice had brought Matthew home from being at the hospital last night, while Provenza went back to their house and packed an overnight bag for them so that they would have some clothes with them while they spent the night at Sharon and Andy's house.

Provenza laid back down on the bed and Patrice laid next to him. "You're such a softie, Louie" she said to him. "Yeah, well don't go telling people that, especially Flynn, otherwise, I'll never hear the end of it" Provenza said to Patrice as they both went back to bed.

Sharon must have fell back asleep because the next thing she knew it was 6 o'clock in the morning and Andy was looking at her again. She smiled at him as she moved her stiff body up on the chair. "You're absolutely beautiful when you sleep, do you know that?" Andy said to her as she woke up and brushed the hair out of her eyes. Sharon blushed at Andy's comment and moved closer to him as she sat up.

"Good morning" she said to him and kissed him on his lips. "Morning" he said to her as they broke apart. She caressed his face and ran her left hand through his hair. "How are you feeling?" she asked him as she looked at his face. "There's a little pain, but it's manageable" he said to her. "You don't have to be such a tough guy all the time, you know that?" Sharon said to him just as one of the nurses came in to check on Andy.

"Good morning Lieutenant! How are you feeling?" the nurse said in a chipper mood. Andy groaned as he tried to move. "I'm better than I was yesterday" he said to the nurse. The nurse checked his vitals and his temperature. The nurse removed the thermometer from Andy's mouth. "Normal temp, that's good" the nurse said as she wrote that down in his chart.

She also checked his blood pressure which was getting back to his normal rate, his pulse was good, and oxygen level was good. "Okay, the doctor should be in shortly to see you, meanwhile I placed an order for your breakfast, it should be coming up soon" the nurse said as she turned around to face Sharon. "I also ordered something small for you as well. You also need to eat" the nurse said to Sharon. "Thank you" Sharon said to the nurse as she left his room.

Sharon then turned around to look at Andy. He was looking back at her. "Why don't you go and get yourself some real food, I'll be fine here" Andy said to her. She walked back over to him and sat down on the side of his bed. "I'm not going to miss the doctor when she comes to visit you. Besides, the nurse ordered me a little something as well" Sharon said as she stroked his chin. He gave her a small smile. He knew that he'd put her through hell with everything that has happened over the last year or so. "And, Patrice is going to stop by here this morning to see how you are" Sharon said to him as she sat there. "I think they should be up by now" Andy said to Sharon as he watched her. Sharon smiled as she fiddled with his hospital gown again. "I'll call them in a little bit" she said to him as she shifted on his bed.

The nurse brought in a tray for Andy. "Okay, here is your breakfast. Looks like you graduated to all solids this time" the nurse said as she dropped off the tray. "Thanks" he muttered to the nurse. "I brought you a bagel and some eggs, dear" the nurse told Sharon as she left. "Thank you" Sharon said as she gave Andy a pointed look. Andy then looked over his food on the tray. Scrambled egg whites, toast, and the infamous green Jell-O again. He then looked over at the food Sharon had. Sharon saw him glance at her and shook her head. He sighed and began to eat his food as Sharon took small bites from her food.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Sorry for the delay in the update to this story. Real life seems to be getting in the way again. Hope you all enjoy this chapter...

Chapter 7

Matthew woke up that morning on his own and sat up in his bed. He was looking around to see if Provenza was still in his room, but he was alone. Moxie wagged his tail as he got up and stretched. "Hi Moxie" Matthew muttered to the dog as he petted him. Moxie licked Matthew's face to try and cheer him up.

Patrice opened Matthew's door to his room and was surprised to see Matthew was already up. "Morning Matthew" Patrice said as she walked into his room. Matthew looked over at her and waved. The kid was having a hard time with what happened yesterday. "Why don't you get dressed and ready for school now, and I'll call your mother to see if, maybe, we could swing by the hospital on the way to your school" Patrice said as Matthew perked his head up.

He jumped off his bed and started to gather his clothes for school. Moxie followed him to the bathroom and he changed his clothes. Provenza walked out of the guest room, all ready for work. "I'm going to stop by the hospital to see how he's doing on the way in to work this morning" he said as he kissed Patrice. "Okay, I was going to call Sharon to see if Matthew could stop and see them on the way to his school" Patrice told Provenza.

They were standing in the hallway when Matthew came out of the bathroom. "I'm ready" Matthew said as he threw his clothes on his bed and stepped out of his room. "Okay Matthew, well you have a good day at school and, um, whatever else it is that you have today" Provenza said as he waved to Matthew and walked down the stairs.

Matthew looked at Patrice who in turn looked back at him and shook her head. "Come on, let's get you some breakfast and then I'll call your mom" Patrice said as her and Matthew headed down the stairs with Moxie following them. Matthew ran in to the kitchen and grabbed his cereal box from the pantry. He then took his milk out of the refrigerator and placed both of them on the kitchen table.

Patrice grabbed a bowl for him from the cabinet and then poured herself a glass of orange juice. She glanced at her watch and decided to call Sharon now as they both should be up. She dialed Sharon's number on her cell phone and waited for Sharon to answer.

Andy had just finished eating his breakfast, if that's what you would call it. "Everything I had for breakfast had no taste to it" he complained to Sharon who was sitting in the chair next to his bed. He reached for her hand and she gladly gave it to him to hold. Sharon's phone then started to ring. She glanced at the screen and saw it was Patrice and she answered.

"Hello?" Sharon said in the phone. "Hi, how are things there?" Patrice asked her. She glanced at Andy who was propped up on the bed watching her. "Oh, things are okay here" Sharon smiled. "Well, I have someone here who's anxious to see both of you this morning" Patrice said as she watched Matthew eat his cereal. "Is he all ready for school?" Sharon asked. "Oh, yes, just needs his lunch but he's ready" Patrice answered her.

Sharon didn't want Matthew to be late to school this morning but she agreed that Patrice could bring Matthew over on the way to his school, just for a quick visit. She hung up from Patrice and glanced over at Andy. "Patrice is bringing Matthew over this morning to see us on his way to school" Sharon said as she continued to hold his left hand. That had brought a smile back on Andy's face. "She's also going to bring you a bag of clothes so you don't have to wear that gown" Sharon said as she squeezed his hand.

The doctor started to make her rounds on the SICU floor and knocked on Andy's room. "Well, hello Lieutenant Flynn. You're looking better than the last time I saw you" the doctor said as she looked through his chart. "How are you feeling?" she asked him as she washed her hands in the sink that was in the room. "Oh, well, I'm feeling better" Andy said to the doctor as she moved closer to his bed. Sharon went to move. "Oh, you're fine right there" the doctor told Sharon but Sharon moved anyway so she wouldn't be in the way of the exam.

"Okay, I'm going to take a quick look at your incisions and make sure that they are looking fine" the doctor said as she put examining gloves on her hands. She then started to unbutton his gown at his left shoulder. She separated the gown and removed the gauze to take a look at the incision at his left shoulder. "Looks like it's healing well" the doctor said as she buttoned his gown. "Does it hurt?" she asked him. "Not if I'm lying like this in bed" Andy replied. "Can you move it for me?" the doctor asked him and Andy tried moving his arm up towards his head. He grimaced as he did this and only had a little range of motion. "Okay, easy, you can put it back down towards your body" the doctor said and helped him move his arm back.

The doctor then moved his gown and removed the gauze to see the incision in his lower abdomen. "This looks good as well" she said as she covered it back up with a fresh gauze and moved his gown back. "I think we can now move you to a more permanent room and get you out of the SICU" she said as she washed her hands again. "I'm going to have you start physical therapy this afternoon, get you moving again. You'll be chasing the bad guys again in no time, Lieutenant" the doctor informed him and Sharon. "Two orderlies will be coming up soon to move you to another room and then I'll check on you before my rounds are done tonight" the doctor said, smiled and then left his room.

Andy moved the back of his bed to a more upright position as he watched Sharon. She was gathering his things when they heard a knock on his door again. Andy looked at the doorway to see Patrice and Matthew both standing there. "Daddy!" Matthew exclaimed as he made his way towards the hospital bed. "You're awake now!" Matthew walked over to the bed and sat on the chair. "Hey buddy. Did you sleep okay?" Andy asked him as Matthew touched his hand.

"I woke up in the middle of the night and went to wake up Patrice and the Lieutenant. Louie walked me back to my room and read me a story, he fell asleep reading it too, but don't tell him I told you that" Matthew said quietly to Andy. "Okay" Andy whispered to him. Matthew sat on the chair while Patrice and Sharon stood outside the room.

"So, how's he doing?" Patrice asked her. Sharon looked at her and then glanced inside the room. "Doctor says he's doing good. They are going to move him to a regular room soon and start him with physical therapy this afternoon" Sharon said as she took a deep breath. Patrice placed her hand on Sharon's arm to comfort her. Sharon looked at her and gave a small smile. "Thank you for taking Matthew home last night and staying there" Sharon said gratefully to Patrice. "You're welcome" Patrice replied as they both looked in the room at Andy and Matthew sitting and talking with one another.

Andy sat upright in bed as Matthew was looking around at all of the different things in the room. "What's that?" Matthew asked as he pointed to the IV pole. "That is medicine to help me recover quicker" Andy replied to him. "Were you wearing your vest when you got shot?" Matthew asked Andy as he shifted in the chair. "Yes, buddy I was" Andy said. "So how did you get shot then?" Matthew inquired. "Well, the vest doesn't cover everywhere, Matthew and sometimes this happens" Andy said to him. Matthew had a sad look on his face. "Did you protect Mommy from the bullets?" Matthew asked. Andy nodded. "I did" Andy said as he tousled Matthew's hair.

"So, you're a hero again then" Matthew stated. "Well" Andy said as he cleared his throat and looked at him. "Daddy?" Matthew said. "Hmm?" Andy said quietly. "You should ask Batman for his armor suit, that way you won't get shot again" Matthew said seriously as he sat there. "Maybe I should, buddy" Andy laughed, which made his stomach muscles tense, which then brought some discomfort to his face. "Are you okay?" Matthew asked him as he glanced at Sharon and Patrice in the hallway and then looked back at Andy. "Yes" Andy said as he grimaced.

"Andy? You okay?" Sharon said as she stepped back in to his room. "Yeah, Matthew made me laugh here that's all" Andy said as he tried to shift in the bed. Sharon walked over to Matthew. "So, did you do all of your homework last night?" she asked Matthew. Matthew nodded as Sharon brushed her hand over his hair. "And your lunch was made this morning?" Sharon asked. "Patrice made it for me. I told her what I wanted in it" Matthew said to Sharon as he glanced at Patrice. "Good, okay then Patrice is going to take you to school now" Sharon said to him.

"NO!" Matthew exclaimed and both Sharon and Andy looked at him. "I don't want to go to school, I want to stay here with Daddy and you" he whined. Sharon didn't want him throwing a tantrum in the middle of the Surgery ICU so she tried to calm him down by placing her hand on his arm. "Matthew!" she sternly said to him. Andy watched the exchange. "I went to school yesterday and Daddy got hurt. I want to stay here so that he doesn't get hurt again" Matthew cried.

Andy glanced at Sharon and her eyes met his. "Matthew, listen to me" Sharon said to him as she scooted him over and sat in the chair with him. "I know you're scared about what happened to Daddy. I was too, very scared. He's going to be okay now, but I need you to go to school so that you can learn all sorts of interesting things, plus you need to talk about your solar system project in class" Sharon said to Matthew as she wiped his tears away. "That's tomorrow" Matthew sniffled.

"Matthew, I promise you that I'm going to be okay here today while you in school" Andy said to him. "Your mom and I need you to be the brave boy we know you are, okay?" Andy stated as he quickly glanced at Sharon and then looked at Matthew again. Matthew sat there looking at Andy. "Batman would want you to go to school today" Andy finally said to him. Since Matthew was so interested in Batman, Andy thought they should use him as maybe a coercing for Matthew. "Promise me you'll be okay?" Matthew sniffled again. "I promise, buddy" Andy said to him. Matthew got up from Sharon's embrace and went to give Andy a hug.

Sharon gave Matthew as hug as well and then Matthew walked out of the room with Patrice. Sharon turned and looked at Andy. She shook her head and took a deep breath. "The kid is scared" Andy said to her as she sat back down on the chair and reached for Andy's left hand. Sharon nodded. "I've been meaning to get him this book I found" Sharon said to him as she went to her phone and showed Andy the book. "It's for children of law enforcement officers called _Sheepdogs: Meet Our Nation's Warriors_ " she said to Andy as he looked at her phone. "Oh yeah?" Andy said to her as he leaned back on the bed and looked at her. She smiled at him as he handed her phone back. "It explains to children why their parents chose to work a different job than parents of their friends and teaches them how to remain strong" Sharon continued to explain the book to Andy.

The two orderlies came into Andy's room as Sharon was explaining the book to Andy. "Okay, Mr. Flynn, we are here to move you up to a regular room" one of them said as the other grabbed the IV bags off of the pole and attached them to the pole on the bed. Sharon stood up and gathered his things and followed them out of the room and into the hallway. Sharon stopped at the nurse's station on the way out. "Thank you so much for everything you did" she said to the nurses there. "Oh, you're very welcome" they said to her. Sharon then caught up with Andy and the orderlies.

All of them stepped in the elevator and they went up to the eight floor where Andy's room was located. They brought him to his new room, which was much bigger than the ICU room. They situated the hospital bed, with Andy in it and showed him the remote for the TV and the call button for the nurse. There was a couch in the room along with a closet that Sharon placed Andy's things inside. There was a private bathroom as well. "There you go Mr. Flynn, all set" one of the orderlies said to Andy and then they left his room.

After Sharon placed his things inside the closet, she moved one of the big chairs over to his bed. As she did this, a nurse entered his room and introduced herself. "Hello, my name is Megan, I'm one of the nurses here" she said to Andy and Sharon. "Can you tell me your name?" Megan asked Andy as she looked at his hospital bracelet. "Andy Flynn" he said to her. She then looked through Andy's chart. "Looks like the doctor ordered you to start physical therapy this afternoon" she said to them. "Yeah, I guess she wants me moving around" Andy said in reply. Megan then checked his IVs and checked his vitals again. "If you want to change out of your gown into some clothes that you brought, that's fine. It might be more comfortable for you" Megan said as she nodded to Sharon. Andy adjusted his position on the bed. "Okay Lieutenant, don't worry, we will take very good care of you" Megan said as she left his room and closed the door behind her.

Andy took a deep breath before moving again. Sharon was right by his side as she placed her arm around him to help him sit up. Sharon helped him stand up and then walked with him over to the bathroom as he held onto the IV pole. Andy stopped halfway as Sharon had her arm around him. "Andy?" she said as he closed his eyes for a second. "Do you need me to get the nurse?" she asked. "No" Andy muttered and they continued to walk towards the bathroom.

"How am I going to wear a shirt with this stupid IV still in my hand" Andy said as Sharon went to get him his bag that Patrice brought. "You're not going to be hooked up to that IV forever, Andy" Sharon said as she looked at him and caressed his back. "Sorry" he muttered to her as she helped him change out of his hospital gown and into a new pair of boxers and sweatpants. His chest was naked now and Sharon was able to see the damage that the two bullets did to Andy. His left shoulder was bruised and colored with purples and reds. The gauze still over the incision. Sharon didn't want to remove that. She leaned over and kissed his shoulder. She then looked down at his abdomen and saw the bruising there as well. She lightly touched it with her fingertips. Andy watched her intensely as she did this. Her eyes then met his and they looked at each other for a minute. "I'm sorry" she said to him, quietly. "Don't be" he said as he leaned in and kissed her. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat" he said as he moved his left hand to caress her face.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 8

Provenza was sitting at his desk when the rest of the team started to trickle in to the office. "Lieutenant, have you heard from the Captain on how Lieutenant Flynn is doing?" Buzz asked Provenza as he made his way towards the desks. "I spoke to her last night and she said that he was doing fine" Provenza said to him as he sat back in his chair. "Will the Captain be in today?" Buzz asked. "Probably not, Buzz" Provenza said as he went back to working on his crossword puzzle.

Julio and Amy started to take down the pictures that were left on the Murder Board from their case. One by one they took them down, placed them in an envelope and then placed that in a box, marked with the case number. "Before I forget, I'll need each of you to write a statement regarding the incident yesterday for our case file" Provenza said to everyone. "So what was Travis's motive for killing Randy Grey?" Amy asked them as she looked at his picture and then placed it in the box. "He was wronged by him, taken advantage of, instead of going to the police about it, he decided to take matters into his own hands" Mike said to Amy.

"Uh, sir? Chief Davis is here" Julio said to Provenza as he looked up from his desk and nodded in the direction of where she was standing. "Ah, Chief Davis, what can I do for you?" Provenza asked her. "I had heard that Lieutenant Flynn got shot yesterday when you attempted to arrest your suspect" Chief Davis said to him as she looked around the room. "Um, yes he did" Provenza answered her as he stood up from his chair and walked over to her. "Is he okay?" she asked him. Provenza was taken back by her sincerity. "Yes, but I haven't gotten an update in a while" Provenza said. "Last night, he was awake and eating" he added. "Well, that's good news then" Chief Davis said to him as they walked out to the hallway.

"I take it then your Captain is not going to be in today?" she inquired. "Um, no I don't think so" Provenza said giving her a short answer. "Who shot and killed the suspect?" Chief Davis stated. Provenza gave her a questionable look. "Excuse me?" he said to her. "Which one of your team members shot and killed Travis Martin?" Chief Davis stated. "Chief, will all due respect, and I mean that loosely, FID's investigating that aspect and has all of our statements" Provenza said to her. "You know, you guys are going to have to get used to me being in this area because I will be the Assistant Chief soon" Chief Davis said to Provenza and then walked away. Provenza stood at the entrance to the Murder Room and watched her walk away. He then retreated back into the office.

As Provenza walked back to his desk, shaking his head at the latest exchange between him and Chief Davis, his phone alerted him to a text message. He pulled out his phone and as he sat down, began to read it. It was from Sharon stating that they moved Andy into a regular room and he's starting physical therapy this afternoon to get range of motion back in his shoulder. "That's good news" he said to himself as he typed the message and sent it to her. He thought about telling her his encounter with Chief Davis, but decided against it as she didn't need the frustration on top of everything.

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Sharon was sitting next to Andy and the two of them were watching TV. "I just texted your partner that they moved you to a regular room, so that when he comes to visit you, he at least knows where we are" Sharon said to Andy as Andy laid in bed, with his head propped up. He wanted to scratch his right hand as the IV was starting to annoy him again. He glanced up at the IV pole to see how much more liquid was in the IV bag that was hanging. "This IV is itching me, I just want to pull it out" he said as he grimaced, trying his best to ignore that sensation.

Sharon watched him and placed her hand gently on his chest. "I'll go ask the nurse to come in and check that for you" she said to him. "No, I'm fine" Andy grumbled. "You just told me that the IV was itching your hand, now you're fine?" Sharon asked as she continued to watch him. He grumbled some more and Sharon grabbed his left hand. "You're going to be a joy in your physical therapy session this afternoon" Sharon said to him, not thinking of how those words might have sounded. "Wait, what does that mean?" Andy asked her, already annoyed. Sharon shook her head. "Nothing" she replied. "NO, I want to know why you said that. Do you think I like being cooped up in a hospital bed?" Andy retorted back. "Andy, calm down! I didn't say that, nor do I think that" Sharon said, trying to calm him down. Andy looked back at her, this wasn't fair to her to always be the one taking care of him. He knew he was wrong to snap at her and he knew he needed to apologize for doing so, but something kept fueling him on.

"You don't have to stay here with me all day" he muttered out to Sharon. "Don't feel like your obligated" he added as he watched Sharon's expression change on her face. "Listen, you and I made a commitment to each other last year, and no I don't feel "obligated" to stay here with you. I am here with you because I am in love with you, Andrew Flynn and I care about what happens to you. You are my husband, and there's no place I'd rather be than right here with you, got it?" Sharon said to him in a stern voice. He glanced at her and saw there were tears about to form in her eyes. Now he felt bad, as he didn't want to make her cry. That was the last thing on his list that he wanted to happen. "I'm sorry" he said as he looked at her. Sharon took a deep breath and released it as she bit her lower lip.

"I'm stupid" he said to her as he held her hand. She chuckled and shook her head. "You're not stupid, Andy, and if the roles were reversed I think I'd be a little irritated too" Sharon said to him as she leaned in and gave him a kiss. "Now, your IV bag is almost done, so I'm going to step outside to the nurse's station and see if one of them could come in here, just to see if you're done with the IVs" Sharon said as she stood up from the chair. Andy reluctantly let go of her hand and watched her walk out of his room. Andy shook his head and closed his eyes for a second. "Good job, Flynn" he muttered to himself.

Sharon walked out of his room and down the hallway to the nurse's station. "Can I help you?" one of the nurses asked her. "My husband is in room 1202 and he's almost done with his IV and I was wondering if he had any more scheduled for today as he said his line was bothering his hand" Sharon said to the nurse. "Let me check here and see what the Doctor ordered" she said to Sharon as she looked at Andy's chart. "Nope, that should be his last IV. I'll come down there and remove it from his hand" she said as she smiled at Sharon. "Thank you" Sharon said as she turned around and walked back to Andy's room.

She paused a moment before she walked back in to the room. "Good news, the nurse will be coming in shortly to remove your IV" Sharon said shortly to Andy as he watched her come back and sit on the chair again. Andy closed his eyes and sighed. "Sharon?" he said but then was interrupted by the nurse stepping in his room. "Hello, Lieutenant. How are you feeling?" the nurse cheerfully asked him as she washed her hands and then placed gloves on them. "Fine" he muttered through his teeth. "Okay, let's see if we can get this annoying IV out of your hand here" the nurse said as she plugged the line and then took a saline syringe and flushed the IV line going into his hand. That stung a bit and Andy grimaced while Sharon watched him. It tore her apart to see him there in pain, even though sometimes he was as stubborn as a mule.

"Okay, you are all set here" the nurse said as she removed the IV line from his hand and placed a Band-Aid on top of it to stop the bleeding from the needle. "How are your incisions doing?" she asked him as she placed the needle in the bio-hazard container. "They pinch a little but not too bad" Andy replied to the nurse as she checked them out. "They are healing very nicely. You're very lucky" the nurse said to him as she placed new gauze on his incisions. The nurse was getting ready to leave his room when she handed him a menu. "Oh, I almost forgot. Here is our lunch menu. This menu is for our heart patients as it's listed in your chart so everything on the menu should be good for the diet your cardiologist has you on" the nurse said to Andy as he looked over the menu. "Thank you" Sharon said to the nurse as the nurse left the room.

Sharon glanced at Andy who was looking over the menu. He placed the menu down on his bed and turned to look at Sharon. Sharon looked at him, but before he could say something to her, Sharon spoke. "I know" she said, softly to him as she caressed his face. He gave her sad, puppy dog eyes because he knew he had screwed up earlier by snapping at her. He didn't know why she got him, but he was eternally grateful for her being in his life. He tried showing that to her every day and was still amazed that one look from her and a simple "I know" could make everything seem right again, even if he thought he royally screwed up.

"Here, help me choose what to order for lunch" Andy said as he handed the menu to Sharon. She went over all of the choices and asked Andy what he wanted. He told her and then she circled the items and placed the menu back on his side tray. He looked at her again as she sat there. "You must be tired" he said to her. She turned her head and shifted in the chair to get a better look at him. "I'm okay" Sharon said to him. She was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday when she changed at the hospital waiting area. To him, she looked exhausted. 'So much for that relaxing weekend we had in Arizona' he thought to himself as he closed his eyes.

Sharon was tired but she didn't want to leave Andy's side. She figured when they took him for his physical therapy session, which would be an hour long, she would then freshen up and change her clothes, as Patrice also brought her clothes in the bag too. She'd hope that Provenza could take care of running things at the office today. Depending on how Andy did after his physical therapy would determine whether or not Sharon would go into the office tomorrow.

She looked at Andy who had fallen asleep. A nurse stopped by to pick up Andy's menu choices for lunch and then left right away. Sharon had pulled out her phone and decided to check in on her team and see what was happening. She dialed Provenza's number and waited for him to answer his phone.

In the Murder Room, things were not going as planned as Provenza would have hoped for. Wally Parker had shown up at the morgue to claim the body of Randy Grey, so that he could have a proper funeral for him. When he went to the morgue, Doctor Morales couldn't release the body to him because the Major Crimes division hadn't finished the paperwork on the case. Mike was on the phone with Doctor Morales. "Why can't you release the body?" Mike asked him over the phone. "Because of the new protocol that just went into effect yesterday" Doctor Morales stated. "What protocol is that?" Mike asked. "Once a division finishes the paperwork and closes the case, only then can the body be released to the family" Doctor Morales stated. "I never heard of this! Who put this policy in place?" Mike said.

So now Wally Parker stood in the middle of the Murder Room, yelling at Provenza on why he couldn't take Randy's body from the morgue. Provenza tried to calm the guy down along with the help from Julio. They succeeded and Julio was able to get Wally to follow him into the conference room. "Ye gods!" Provenza said as he turned around just as his phone was ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was Sharon who was calling him. "Captain, how's Flynn doing?" Provenza said as he answered his phone.

Sharon glanced at Andy before she answered Provenza and saw that he was still sleeping. "He's okay, sleeping right now. I was just checking in on you to see how the team is doing" Sharon said to him. "Oh, well, things are" he started to say but paused for a second. "Lieutenant?" Sharon said. "Things are a little crazy here. Wally Parker is here right now, demanding that we hand over the body of Randy Grey to him. We told him that's the morgue's position to do so, he said he was already there and Doctor Morales said he couldn't release the body until Major Crimes closed the case and all paperwork was finished" Provenza explained to her.

"Wait a minute, what policy is this?" Sharon inquired. "Tao is trying to figure that out right now" Provenza answered as he looked in the direction of Mike's desk. Provenza moved the phone away from him. "Tao, did you find out anything? The Captain is on the phone" Provenza said to Mike. "Yeah, apparently Chief Davis changed this policy two days ago because the morgue was releasing bodies that, I guess, weren't supposed to be released due to the police not completing the cases" Mike said as he shrugged his shoulders. "What!" Provenza said and then realized he blurted that into his phone. "Oh, uh, sorry Captain" he said to Sharon. "Um, well it seems like are illustrious Chief Davis has struck again" he informed Sharon.

Sharon shook her head as she heard what Provenza said over the phone. "I'm sure you can figure it out Lieutenant, for today, and I may be in tomorrow" Sharon said to him as a nurse brought in Andy's lunch just then. She placed it on the tray and left the room. "Right, Captain. Don't worry, we will figure things out here. I might be stopping by after work tonight to see how Flynn's doing, if you can let him know that" Provenza said. "Sure, I will" Sharon said and then hung up her phone.

She glanced over again at Andy who was still sleeping. She looked at the clock and saw that they had about an hour to go before Andy's physical therapy session and she knew that he would need to eat beforehand. She leaned over his bed and kissed his cheek. Andy then opened his eyes and looked at Sharon. "Is it morning already?" he mumbled. "No, sweetie, your lunch is here" Sharon said to him as he started to wake up from his nap.

Sharon moved the tray over to his bed as Andy sat up slowly and readjusted the bed. He opened the top of the container to see his lunch and he was surprised that there was a grilled chicken salad along with other items that Sharon had selected for him. "The salad is mine" Sharon said to him, sweetly as she moved the salad over to where she was sitting. "Okay" he said to her as he opened the other containers. A plain, grilled salmon was sitting on the plate along with steamed broccoli and carrots. A bowl of fresh fruit was also on the tray along with sugar free chocolate pudding in a cup. "I ordered you the chocolate pudding as a surprise" Sharon said to him as she settled down to eat her salad. Andy started to eat his lunch and by the time 1:30 came along, he was being escorted in a wheelchair to his physical therapy.

Sharon walked with them to the area he was being taken. "His session should be about an hour, and afterwards, I'll bring him back to his room" the orderly said to Sharon. "Okay, Andy please have a good session, don't give them any problems" Sharon whispered in Andy's ear as she kissed his cheek. She smiled at him and he half smiled back as he was not looking forward to this session. He remembered the last time he did physical therapy in the hospital, after his blood clot, he wasn't thrilled about it now. Sharon waved to him as the orderly brought him into the room and then Sharon went back upstairs to Andy's room to freshen up.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 9

As Sharon turned around and headed towards the elevators again, she passed by the hospital gift shop. She wanted to get Andy something that would cheer him up and she decided to step inside the shop. Her eyes went immediately to a small teddy bear that was holding a heart, which said 'I Love You'. She decided to get that and she brought it over to the cashier and paid for it. She then made her way upstairs, and back in to his room.

"Hello Lieutenant, my name is Corey and I'm going to be your physical therapist" Corey said to Andy as he stepped out of the wheelchair. "Yeah, great, nice to meet you" Andy said as he grimaced. "Okay, why don't you come over here first. We are going to do some shoulder extensions and see where you are currently at" Corey said to him as he gathered a strengthening ribbon and a measuring device. Andy looked over at his physical therapist, and shook his head. He walked over to join him as Corey pointed to a chair where he wanted him to sit.

After about thirty minutes of pure torture, according to Andy, he sat there on the bench inside the workout area, sweaty and trying to catch his breath as the physical therapist worked on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" Corey asked him as they lowered his left arm back to his side. "It's just painful when I raise my arm" he grunted to him. "I know, there was damage to your soft tissue surrounding your shoulder joint" Corey explained to him. "Like what tissue?" Andy inquired as they were taking a break from the exercise. Corey stood up and brought over a model of a shoulder to show Andy.

"Here, Lieutenant, let me show you what I'm talking about on this" Corey said to him as he brought the model back to where Andy was sitting. "The bullet entered here in your shoulder" he said as he pointed to the plastic model. "All throughout this area, where your bruising is, muscle and ligaments attach to the shoulder joint, they become flexible so that you are able to move your arm" Corey showed him. "When the bullet entered, it caused damage to these tissues, the muscle and the ligaments" Corey said as Andy looked at the plastic model. "The doctor performed the surgery to remove the bullets, and repair the tissue damage that occurred" as Andy listened to them. "My job is to help you get your strength back and get your range of motion back to being as close as 100 percent as we can get it" Corey said to him and placed the model on the table nearby.

Corey then sat back down in front of where Andy was sitting. "Now, you're not going to get your range of motion back to normal right away. We are going to gradually work on it so that one day, when I ask you to raise your left arm over your head, you won't be in pain and you'll be able to do it without my help". Andy looked down at his hands in his lap and then glanced back up at Corey. "When can I return to work?" he asked him. "Well, Lieutenant, that's a question for the doctor, however I will tell you that you are scheduled for physical therapy three times a week for the next three weeks" Corey informed him. Andy was not too happy to hear that but he knew that in order to get back in the field, he was going to have to endure this.

Meanwhile, Sharon had freshened up in the private bathroom inside Andy's room. She had changed her clothes and was now sitting on the couch in his room when her phone alerted her to a text message. It was from Rusty, he was wondering how Andy was doing. Sharon replied that he was currently in his physical therapy session. She glanced at the clock on the wall, Andy still had thirty more minutes of therapy before he would be coming back to her. Matthew's school was just a few minutes away from the hospital, so Sharon decided to leave and go pick him up. She had left a note on Andy's tray table, along with the teddy bear that she bought him.

She walked back down to the nurse's station. "Excuse me, I'm just going to be stepping outside for twenty minutes or so, my husband is currently downstairs at his physical therapy session, I don't want him to worry about me" Sharon said to one of the nurses. "Oh, don't worry honey, we'll let him know if he wonders where you went" the nurse replied to Sharon and then went about looking something up on the computer. Sharon then proceeded to the elevators and headed downstairs. She walked to the parking garage and followed the directions where Buzz had left their car. She found their car and then stepped inside and sat down in the driver's seat. She then made her way over to Matthew's school to pick him up.

Back in the physical therapy room, Andy was sitting upright on a table with an ice wrap around his left shoulder. The physical therapist told him he needed to keep that on for twenty minutes to help with the healing and any swelling that was occurring after his exercise. He sat there watching TV in the room. His left hand was laying across his stomach and he was playing with his wedding ring, thinking about Sharon.

In the Murder Room, things started to calm down after everyone had their written reports and handed them in to Provenza. Wally Parker was able to pick up the body of Randy Grey from the morgue and they didn't see Chief Davis the rest of the day. Sergeant Elliot from FID walked in to the Murder Room and saw Provenza sitting at his desk. "Lieutenant, how are things going?" Sergeant Elliot stated to him. Provenza looked up from his reading and saw Sergeant Elliot standing two feet in front of him. "Sergeant, if you're looking for your former boss, she isn't here, and I doubt she will be in tomorrow either" Provenza said, bothered by his visit. Out of all of the detectives in FID currently, Provenza tolerated Sergeant Elliot the most.

"Um, actually I'm here to see you, Lieutenant and to give you this report" Sergeant Elliot said to him as he handed Provenza the report that he was carrying. "What's this?" Provenza asked, a little skeptical about the report. "It's FID's finished report, clearing the officer involved shooting yesterday" Sergeant Elliot stated. Provenza reluctantly took the report from Sergeant Elliot's hands and started to skim over it. "What are you searching for, Lieutenant?" Sergeant Elliot asked him. "I just want to see where you put the blame on us" Provenza said as he paged through the report.

Sergeant Elliot shook his head. "You don't change, sir" he said to Provenza. "You know Sergeant, you're the only one that is currently in FID that we tolerate up here, and it's not because you used to be the Captain's favorite when she was in charge of you guys" Provenza said to Sergeant Elliot as he pointed at him. Sergeant Elliot had a small smile on his face. "Of course it's not, Lieutenant" he said to Provenza. "If you want to know, everyone has been cleared during the shootout, it was a no brainer, sir. But, we still had to do our jobs" Sergeant Elliot said to Provenza. "Thank you" Provenza said as he shook Sergeant Elliot's hand.

"By the way, how is Lieutenant Flynn doing?" Sergeant Elliot asked him. "Oh, well, he was moved into a regular room this morning and is probably driving the Captain and the rest of the hospital staff crazy by now" Provenza said as he laughed. "I'm going to stop over there on the way home, whenever I get out of this place, and see how he's doing" Provenza said to him. "Please let them both know I stopped by" Sergeant Elliot stated and nodded to Provenza. "Oh, I will" Provenza said as he watched Sergeant Elliot leave the room.

Back at the hospital, Andy was brought back to his room, where it was empty, much to Andy's disappointment. He saw the teddy bear sitting on the tray table along with a note from Sharon. 'Andy, after I freshened up I went to go pick Matthew up from school. We'll be back soon. I hope your first session went well. Love, Sharon XO' Andy read the note she had left him. As he settled back into the hospital bed, he held the teddy bear that she must have purchased earlier, maybe from the gift shop he saw downstairs. He sat back and closed his eyes as he was tired from the session, and hoped that Sharon wouldn't be gone too long.

Sharon had arrived early at Matthew's school so she decided to wait for him inside the building. As she waited there, the school children were dismissed. Sharon saw Matthew look over in her direction so she waved to him and he waved back and ran up to her. "Mom!" Matthew said to her and gave her a hug. "Hi sweetie" she said to him. "How's Daddy doing?" he asked her as he broke away from her. "He's doing fine, and is looking forward to seeing you" Sharon said as they made their way out of the school and over to the car. Matthew got in to the car and settled in the backseat. He then opened his backpack and pulled out his toy Batman figure. "I want to give this to Daddy so that he can be protected" Matthew said and showed the figure to Sharon. "Where did you get that?" Sharon asked him as she sat in the driver's seat and looked over her shoulder. "From home" Matthew said and then looked out the car window as Sharon drove them back to the hospital.

Meanwhile, Chief Howard walked in to the Murder Room and saw that Provenza was sitting at his desk. He looked up at him. "Well, everybody is visiting us. What can I do for you, Chief?" Provenza asked him as he placed his crossword puzzle down at his desk. "Did you hear from your Captain again this afternoon?" Chief Howard asked him. "No I didn't" Provenza answered and shook his head in the process. "Do you know if she will be in tomorrow?" he asked him. "No, but I could ask her when I stop by the hospital on my way home" Provenza said to him. "No, I'll shoot her a message on her phone, thanks" Chief Howard stated and then left the office. Provenza wondered what was going on, as it seemed a little suspicious to him.

Matthew and Sharon rode the elevator at the hospital up to the floor that Andy's room was on. They walked off and Sharon held Matthew's hand as she didn't want him wandering off. "Now, Daddy might be sleeping so let's be quiet when we walk inside his room, okay?" Sharon said to Matthew before they went inside Andy's room. Matthew gave Sharon a thumb's up and they proceeded inside the room.

As they walked inside, she saw Andy was sleeping so she pointed to the couch and Matthew went there to sit down. She walked over to the bed and gently caressed Andy's face. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Sharon. "Hi" he said to her. "Hi, look who I brought with me" Sharon smiled at him and then he looked over to see Matthew sitting on the couch. "Hey buddy!" Andy said to Matthew as Matthew stood up and ran over to the bed. "How are you feeling?" Matthew asked him. "Oh, I'm doing much better" Andy said as he adjusted his bed so that he was sitting more upright. "Look what I brought you from home" Matthew said to Andy as he held out his Batman figure toy. "Wow, you brought that for me?" Andy said as he looked at Matthew. Matthew nodded his head. "That way, Batman can protect you while you are in the hospital" Matthew said innocently.

Andy smiled and then placed the Batman figure next to the teddy bear. "How about I put him right next to this bear your mom left for me" Andy said as he placed the figure down on the tray table. "Matthew, why don't you sit down over here and start on some of your homework" Sharon said to Matthew and Matthew walked back to the couch and opened up his backpack. Sharon then turned to Andy and sat down on the chair close to his bed. "So how was your physical therapy session?" Sharon asked him. "Ugh, it was tough, my shoulder really hurt afterwards but I iced it after the guy tortured me" Andy said to Sharon, giving her his puppy dog eyes. "Oh Andy, I'm sure you were not tortured" she said to him, smiling as she shook her head.

She leaned in to him and gave him a kiss. He deepened the kiss and then Sharon broke away, smiling at him. "Maybe that should be your reward for being good during your sessions" she said to him. "Speaking of sessions, the physical therapist mentioned that I have sessions, three times a week for the next three weeks" Andy said to Sharon. "Well, that's good, isn't it?" Sharon asked him. "Does that mean I'm on desk duty for the next three weeks?" Andy asked her. Sharon sighed and took a deep breath. The one thing that Andy hated was being confined to a desk. "It all depends on what your doctor says" Sharon said to him but Andy wasn't happy with that response from her. He didn't reply. "Speaking of your doctor, did she come back to check on you again?" Sharon asked him. "No, the nurse said she'll be by later and hopefully she will let me go in the morning tomorrow" Andy said to her as he laid there sitting upright. Sharon grabbed his hand and held onto it as she looked at him and then over at Matthew who was doing his homework.

An hour had passed and Andy was now speaking to his partner over the phone. Sharon was going over Matthew's homework with him as they sat on the couch. Andy looked over at them from his bed and shook his head at what Provenza was telling him. "So what if Sergeant Elliot came up to our office" Andy said over the phone. "Oh come on, Flynn, the guy is on the rat squad" Provenza said to him. "Look, I'm just saying that he helped us out, me especially, a month or so ago and he really doesn't bother me anymore" Andy said to him. "That's because he's her favorite one" Provenza said, meaning that Sergeant Elliot was Sharon's favorite from when she was in charge of FID. "I'm her favorite, Provenza, not him" Andy said in protest. "Yeah, yeah, look I'm almost to the hospital now so I'll see you in a bit" Provenza said to him and then hung up his phone.

Andy looked over at Sharon who looked up briefly at him. "Provenza's on his way over here" Andy said to her. "Good, I've been meaning to ask him how the rest of the day went there" Sharon said to him as she continued to go over Matthew's math homework. Matthew was sitting next to her, watching her as she went over each problem, hoping that he had done them right the first time. "Good job, Matthew" she said to him as she handed him back his homework sheet. "Now, put this back in your folder before you lose it" Sharon said to him.

Matthew put his homework away and then stood up and walked over to Andy's bed. He was currently sitting upright and shifted in the bed as Matthew came over to him. Matthew looked at Andy and Andy, in turn, looked back at him. He knew Matthew wanted to ask him something by the look he had on his face. "What's up?" Andy said to him. "Can I watch TV with you?" Matthew asked him as Sharon watched the two in front of her. "Sure, what do you want to watch?" Andy said as he grabbed the remote control for the TV. Matthew surprised Andy and started to climb up onto his bed and then snuggled into Andy's side. "I missed you, Daddy. I'm glad you are okay" Matthew said to Andy. Andy looked down at him and smiled. "Me too, buddy, me too" Andy said to him and then glanced over at Sharon who was watching them from the couch. He smiled at her and she smiled back at him. Sharon then stood up, walked back over and sat in the chair next to them as they all watched the TV.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thanks for all of the great reviews on this story. Here is the last chapter of this story. I hope you all have enjoyed reading this. Thanks again!

Chapter 10

When Provenza walked in to Andy's room, the sight before him had him sigh. Matthew was curled up into Andy's right side, sleeping while Andy and Sharon were watching the local news. Provenza knocked on his door and they glanced over at him. Sharon stood up and greeted Provenza as he walked into the room. "Captain" Provenza said. "Hello, Lieutenant" Sharon said and then gave him a hug making Provenza feel awkward. "Uh, Chief Howard stopped by the office before I left. He was wondering if you'd be in tomorrow" Provenza said to her as she pulled back. "More than likely I will, did he say why he was wondering?" Sharon asked. "No, but he did say he would send a text message to your phone" Provenza said as he pulled up another chair to sit down in.

Sharon walked over to her purse on the couch and pulled her phone out. She saw that she had a message and then opened the app to see who it was from. 'Captain, hope all is well there with Flynn. Wondering if you were coming in to the office tomorrow, there's something we need to discuss with you' Sharon read the message from Chief Howard silently in her head. She could only imagine what it was that needed discussing, the new assistant chief's position. She took a deep breath and sighed as she placed her phone back in her purse. Andy looked over at her. "Everything okay?" he asked her as she was responding back to the text message. "Fine" she said smiling at him.

The doctor then walked into Andy's room and spoke to them. "Well, Lieutenant I see you have some visitors here" she said as she glanced at his chart. "Yeah, my son missed me" Andy said as he glanced down at Matthew who was still sleeping. "Here, I'll wake him up" Sharon said as she walked over to the other side of the bed and gently woke Matthew up. Matthew opened his eyes and then Sharon helped him out of the bed. "The doctor needs to examine Daddy" she said to him as he rubbed his eyes and stood up. "Sorry" Matthew said to the doctor and got shy all of a sudden, hiding his face behind Sharon. "Oh, that's quite alright" the doctor said as she moved closer to Andy.

"So how was your physical therapy session today?" the doctor asked Andy as she took a look at him. "Um, it was okay" Andy answered her as she took her stethoscope out to listen to his heart. "Take a deep breath for me" she said to him and Andy did. "Good" she replied and then she checked his vitals, everything coming back good. "Are you in any pain right now?" she asked him as she checked his pulse. "No, but I will tell you after my session, my shoulder hurt a lot" Andy said to her. She nodded. "What about your lower abdomen area, did that hurt as well?" she asked him as she poked and prodded in that area where the incisions were. "No, that didn't hurt" he said as he winced. The doctor glanced up at him with a questionable look. "Maybe there's a pinch every now and then" Andy said. The doctor wrote some notes down in his chart.

"Okay, so Lieutenant everything is healing up nicely and your vitals are all good. I'm going to release you from the hospital tomorrow morning" the doctor said. Andy sighed as he didn't want to spend another night in the hospital. "About what time, Doctor?" Sharon spoke up as she glanced at Andy. "Hmm, probably mid-morning around 10:30" the doctor said to Sharon. "Oh, uh before you leave doc, I was just wondering how long before I can be in the field again" Andy asked the doctor before she left his room. "Well, that all depends on how you do with your physical therapy sessions. If you can get 90 percent motion back in your shoulder without any pain, then you can be released for field work, but right now, I want you on desk duty, at least for two weeks and then I'll consult with your physical therapist and see how things are going. Sound good?" the doctor said to Andy and then looked at Sharon. "Yeah" Andy said a little disappointment in his voice.

"Thank you Doctor" Sharon said to her as she left his room. Sharon then turned to look at Andy and walked over to his side. "Andy" she said to him. "I know, I know" Andy said to her as she fingered his left hand. "So, Captain, if you want to take Matthew and grab dinner, I can stay here with Flynn and by the time you get back, I'm sure I'll be ready to leave" Provenza said to Sharon. "What's that supposed to mean?" Andy chimed in. Provenza shook his head and so did Sharon. "Ok, thank you Lieutenant" she said to Provenza and then gathered her purse. "Matthew, would you like to get something for dinner?" she asked him and Matthew nodded as he stood up from the couch. She walked over to Andy and bent down to kiss him. "Please behave yourself" she said to him. "It's not me you should be worried about, it's him" Andy said pointing to Provenza. Sharon smiled and then her and Matthew walked out of the room.

Provenza sat down and they turned the TV back on. "So, what's your problem?" Provenza asked him. Andy just looked at him. "Fine, if you must know I don't want to be on desk duty again" Andy said to him. Provenza nodded his head slightly. "Okay, then stop getting shot, injured, whatever you want to call it" Provenza said to him. "Do you think I do that on purpose?" Andy said as he gritted his teeth at him. "Easy Flynn, just relax okay. No one is saying you did that on purpose" Provenza said as he turned his head away from Andy. Andy decided to change the topic of discussion as he didn't want to think about being on desk duty. "So, how were things at the office today?" Andy asked Provenza.

"Huh, interesting let's just say" Provenza said to Andy and then proceeded to tell him about the day. "So, Chief Davis shows up and asks about me?" Andy said to Provenza as Provenza flipped through the TV channels. "Yeah, but I don't think she was concerned, she just wanted to get under my skin because she wanted to know which one of us shot the bastard that shot you" Provenza said as he settled on the show he wanted to watch. "Ah, Jeopardy is starting" Provenza said as he placed the remote back on Andy's bed. Andy rolled his eyes as they watched the show.

Meanwhile, Sharon decided that she and Matthew would head down to the cafeteria in the hospital as she didn't want to be gone long from Andy. She figured that he would want her to go home tonight with Matthew, which meant that they would both be sleeping alone. They did that before when he was in the hospital for his blood clot surgery, but that was different then. For one, they weren't married back then and two, they didn't have Matthew either.

Matthew looked around at all of the different choices that the cafeteria offered. He then tapped on Sharon's right side. Sharon was busy making a salad for herself and she looked down at Matthew by her side. "Can I choose anything here?" Matthew asked her. "Well, try to keep it healthy, if you can" Sharon said to Matthew as he walked off to where the pizza station was located. He ended up getting a slice of cheese pizza and Sharon put some carrot sticks, tomatoes, and cucumber slices in a separate plastic container for him to have as well. Matthew brought his slice of cheese pizza to the tray that Sharon was holding and saw the carrot sticks. He looked up at Sharon with pleading eyes. "You need some vegetables if you are going to eat pizza" Sharon said to him. Matthew didn't say anything and they walked over to the cashier.

Matthew chose a spot for them to sit down and eat their dinner. "Why did Daddy get shot?" Matthew asked Sharon as she started to eat her salad. "Oh, well you see Matthew, there are really bad people in the world and sometimes they want to harm other people for whatever reason they have" Sharon started to tell Matthew as he shifted in his chair. "Matthew?" Sharon tried getting his attention again. "You know, Daddy and I both have a dangerous job, right?" Sharon asked him as he ate some pizza. "Yeah" he said with his mouth full. "Why do you do that job, if it's dangerous?" Matthew asked her after he swallowed the piece of pizza.

"Hmm, well, ah there are lots of reasons why we do the job we have" Sharon said to Matthew as he looked at her. She paused for a moment before continuing. "We want to protect innocent people from the bad guys" Sharon said to him as she paused again. "Sometimes, the bad guys get ahead of us and try to hurt us instead of the innocent people and we get hurt" Sharon finished. "Have you ever gotten shot?" Matthew asked her as he was being inquisitive. "Yes, but it was a long time ago" Sharon answered him and she finished her salad. "Daddy didn't get shot on purpose, Matthew. He was doing his job" Sharon thought she should clarify that. Matthew nodded as he sat there.

Back at Andy's room, Andy's dinner was delivered to him and as he looked over everything on his tray, he heard a snicker coming from the direction of Provenza. He glanced over at him. "What?" Andy said to him. "Nothing, it's just that, whatever it is, doesn't look appetizing at all" Provenza chuckled as he pointed to the main dish. "Sharon must have chosen this while I was away" Andy said as he saw he had a plain, grilled chicken breast with steamed vegetables. "I wouldn't have her choose dinner for me" Provenza said to him. "Oh, really? I know for a fact that Patrice makes you eat healthier than you did before, and that she shoves vegetables at you any chance that she gets" Andy said defending Sharon and his own honor.

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Eat your dinner" Provenza said back to him as he was now watching Wheel of Fortune on the TV. Andy shook his head and then turned his attention to the food in front of him. Although he didn't care for hospital food, he didn't mind what Sharon had ordered for him.

Andy just had finished dinner when Sharon and Matthew returned to his room. "So where did the two of you go to dinner?" Andy asked them. "We went to the cafeteria!" Matthew said as he walked over to where Provenza was sitting. Andy gave Sharon a look and she shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't want to be gone too long" she said to him and Andy nodded. "Well, I guess it's time for me to head home to Patrice" Provenza said as he stood up from the chair he was sitting in and walked over to where Sharon was standing by the door.

"Flynn, I'm glad to see you are still alive" Provenza said to Andy. "Thanks" Andy muttered back as he turned the TV off. "Captain, I'll see you tomorrow, then?" Provenza turned to Sharon and asked her. "Yes, I have a meeting in the morning with Chief Howard, and then I'll probably come back here to pick him up and take him home" Sharon said to Provenza as she walked out of the room with him. Matthew walked over and climbed on the chair that was next to Andy's bed. "I'll read you a story" Andy said to Matthew as he took the book from Matthew's hands.

"When you saw Chief Howard today, did he seem different to you, in any way?" Sharon inquired to Provenza. "No, why?" Provenza said as they walked to the elevators. "No reason, it just seemed weird that he would want a meeting tomorrow morning and text me to make sure that I am there" Sharon said. "Do you think the meeting tomorrow has anything to do with the Assistant Chief's position?" Provenza asked her as he stepped into the elevator that opened. "You think so?" Sharon asked him in return. "Possibly. Good night Captain" Provenza said as the doors closed. Sharon had contemplated what Provenza just mentioned as she stood there for a moment. She then returned to Andy's room.

She walked back in and saw Andy reading a story to Matthew. She smiled at Andy when he looked up at her entering his room. She then looked at her watch and saw that it was getting late. She knew that she would have to get Matthew home soon. Rusty had picked up Moxie already and he texted Sharon that he had brought Moxie back home. She gingerly made her way to Andy's bed and scooted Matthew over on the chair so that she could sit down there. "I hate to interrupt this story telling, but it's getting late and you have school tomorrow, Matthew" Sharon said to her boys. "Awe, can't we stay here longer?" Matthew asked as he turned around to face both Andy and Sharon. Andy looked at Sharon and knew that she would find it difficult to leave him there at the hospital, while she went home with Matthew. He decided to jump in and spare her the turmoil.

"Matthew, your mom is right, you have school tomorrow, plus Moxie is waiting for you at home" Andy said to Matthew as Sharon glanced at him. "But you can't stay here at the hospital by yourself" Matthew said to Andy. "Well, I won't be here by myself. I'll have Batman and teddy bear here to keep me company during the night" Andy said to him as he pointed to the Batman and teddy bear. "And by the time you get home from school tomorrow, I will already be out of here" Andy said to him. "Will you come and pick me up tomorrow?" Matthew asked. "I'll be there, kid" Andy said and then Matthew gave him a hug. Sharon smiled as she watched the two of them hug. She stood up from the chair. "Okay Matthew, go gather all of your stuff" Sharon said as she pointed to the table by the couch.

Sharon then leaned down to Andy. Andy caressed her face with his hand. "I don't want to leave you" Sharon whispered to him. "I'll be fine, Sharon. Honestly" Andy said to her, reassuringly as he smiled. "You need to get some decent night's sleep for your important meeting tomorrow morning" Andy said as he stroked her right hand. Sharon chuckled. "Provenza thinks that meeting has something to do with the Assistant Chief's position" she said to him. "Maybe it does. No one deserves it more than you, Sharon" Andy said to her. "I'll have you know that I am fine right where I am now, in charge of Major Crimes" Sharon said as she leaned in and kissed him. "Just as long as it's not Winnie Davis" Andy said to her and she smiled.

Matthew gathered his things in his backpack and walked over to Andy's bed. "Good night pal, be good for your mom and say hello to Moxie for me" Andy said to Matthew and Matthew hugged him again. "Good night Dad" he said to him. "Be careful driving home, let me know when you get there" he said to Sharon as she kissed him again. "Have a good night here. Don't give the night staff nurses a hard time, okay?" she said to him as she caressed his face. "I'll behave myself" Andy said as he held up his hand. "I love you" Sharon said to him. "I love you too" Andy said as he held her hand.

Sharon and Matthew then left his room and headed home. Andy looked over at the Batman and the teddy bear and sighed. He decided to turn the TV back on and find some sort of sports show. He had hoped that would take his mind off of missing Sharon already.

Sharon had arrived home with Matthew and she texted Andy to let him know that they were home. 'Good' he replied to her. Sharon told Matthew to go upstairs and get ready for bed. Matthew did and Moxie followed him up the stairs. Sharon decided that she would get Matthew's lunch ready tonight, that way it will save them both time tomorrow morning.

She then made sure everything was locked up for the night and headed upstairs herself to tuck Matthew in before she made her way to their bedroom. After kissing Matthew good night, she made her way to their bedroom and got herself ready for bed. Afterwards she climbed into bed and grabbed Andy's pillow. She breathed his scent that still lingered on it from two days ago, and all of the memories started to flood her mind. She broke down and cried. A minute later, her phone alerted her to a text message. As she wiped her tears from her face and picked up her phone, she saw that the message was from Andy.

'I just wanted to make sure you were okay. It's a little lonely here in bed by myself' Andy's message stated. She smiled and responded back to him. 'I'm okay, in bed hugging your pillow close to me' Sharon's message said. "Hmm, you have my pillow, and all I have here is Batman and a teddy bear' he responded. 'Move the teddy bear up to your nose and breath in' Sharon wrote to him. Andy looked at the text. He took the teddy bear off of the tray table and did what Sharon told him to do. As he held it close to his face, he breathed in and smelled her scent, which brought a smile to his face. 'How did you do that?' he texted to her. 'I figured we would miss each other tonight so I made sure you had something there to remind you of me' she responded.

A few minutes go by and then Sharon gets another text from Andy. 'Get some rest Sharon. I love you' it said. Sharon smiled and responded back to him. 'Good night, Andy. I love you' her message said and she closed her eyes. Andy looked at the message she had sent him and settled in the hospital bed and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Sharon woke up to her alarm. She turned it off and got herself ready for the day. She was glad that Andy was getting released from the hospital today because she didn't know how they could spend another night apart from each other. She looked at her phone and saw a new message from Andy. 'Good morning, my love' it said. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and responded back to him. 'Good morning, sweetheart' she sent him as she was getting dressed and ready.

Andy smiled at his phone just as one of the nurses came in to check on him. "Oh, I see you are awake already. You must be an early riser" she said to him. "Yes, I kind of am, plus I had to make sure my wife was up" Andy said to the nurse as she brought his breakfast for him. "So, word on the street is that you are being released later this morning" she said as she sat his tray down and moved it over to him. "That's right. No offense but I'm ready to get out of here" Andy said to her and they both laughed. "Don't worry, Lieutenant, no offense taken. We are certainly glad you are ready to go and get some more bad guys off of our streets" the nurse said to him. Andy looked at the nurse as she left his room. "Yeah, well I wish it was that easy" he said to himself. At least three weeks of desk duty was facing him when he returns and like usual, he was not looking forward to that. He was sure that Provenza already had a list for him of things he needed to do.

Sharon got Matthew up and he got himself ready for school. Sharon went downstairs and rushed through the kitchen, getting breakfast ready in the form of cereal boxes, bowls, and milk and placed them all on the kitchen table so that when Matthew came down, all they needed to do was eat and then she would drive him to school. "Matthew!" Sharon called upstairs to him as she glanced at her watch. It was getting close to the time that they needed to leave. Matthew came bounding down the stairs and joined Sharon in the kitchen for breakfast. "Everything okay up there?" she asked him as he sat down at the table. "Yes" he said to her as he ate his cereal. Sharon then went to feed Moxie his food for breakfast.

Fifteen minutes later, Sharon, Matthew, and Moxie were out the door in her car heading over to Matthew's school. "Good luck with your presentation on your solar system project today" Sharon said to Matthew as she pulled into the school's parking lot. "I will" he said and then paused before he got out of the car. "Dad is coming home today, right?" he asked her before leaving. "Yes, sweetie, in fact, I am picking him up later this morning after I have my meeting at work" Sharon said to him. "Okay, good luck at your meeting, Mommy" Matthew said to her and then stepped out of the car and headed inside the school building.

Sharon then drove over to the doggie day care place and took Moxie inside. Moxie was excited to go inside and play with other dogs there. Sharon spoke to the owner of the place as she dropped him off. "Moxie is such a good dog, and gets along with everyone here" the owner said to her. Sharon chuckled to herself after hearing that. She then left the doggie day care place and headed towards the PAB.

As she pulled into the parking lot, her phone was ringing. She smiled when she picked it up and saw it was Andy. "Yes, are you behaving yourself this morning" she said as she answered her phone. "Of course I am, model patient and all" Andy said as he laughed. "Oh really?" she said to him. "Where are you?" Andy asked her. "I just pulled into my spot at work" she said as she gathered her bag and stepped out of her vehicle. "Well, I just wanted to wish you good luck with your meeting today. The doctor is making her rounds again this morning and then I will let you know what time I will be released" Andy said. "Thank you. Truth be told, I am a little nervous and skeptical about this meeting" Sharon said as she made her way towards the elevators. "You'll be fine, honey. I love you" he said. "I love you too" Sharon said and then she hung up her phone.

She made her way up to the 9th floor and as soon as she got off the elevator, Chief Howard was standing in the hallway. It was almost as if he was waiting just for her, and that sort of freaked Sharon out a little bit. "Chief" Sharon said with a little hesitation in her voice. "Sharon, why don't you head on over to the Assistant Chief's office with me" Chief Howard said and Sharon stopped and paused for a moment. "I was just going to go to my office and check in on a couple of things before" Sharon started to say to him as she was still holding her bag. Chief Howard shook his head. "Come on Captain" he said to her and she walked with him towards the Assistant Chief's office, looking at him the whole time. "I promise, it's all good" he told her as he opened the door to the office.

Sharon walked inside the office and saw Commander Mason standing behind the desk, unpacking some boxes. "Oh, Leo! Congratulations!" Sharon said to Mason, a little relieved that it wasn't her that got the position and also relieved that it wasn't Winnie Davis either. "Yes, well, I guess one of us had to take this position, right? And I am holding to the promise that I made the two of you weeks ago" Mason said to the two of them as they sat down on the chairs in front of his new desk. "First of all, may I say that Chief Pope made a wise decision by picking you" Sharon said to Mason as she tried to settle herself down. "I was a little nervous when I heard that you wanted to speak to me to discuss something" she told Chief Howard. "Oh, well sorry Sharon, we wanted to surprise you with the good news but then the shooting happened and you know the rest" Chief Howard said to her.

Sharon looked at both men and shook her head. "So why would Winnie Davis tell Lieutenant Provenza yesterday that he better get used to seeing her around then if the both of you knew this before?" Sharon asked them and they both looked at each other. "Well, she still doesn't know yet" Chief Howard said to Sharon. "Chief Pope is calling her into his office this morning to tell her" Mason added. They all sat there for a bit until Sharon broke the laughter. "So, everything should be staying the same then" she stated to them. "Uh, well, not everything" Chief Howard said as he nodded to Mason. Mason stood up and carried a small box over to present to Sharon. "I think these are well earned and deserved Commander Flynn" Mason said to her and handed the small box to Sharon.

Sharon looked at the box and shook her head. "No" she whispered. "Open the box" Chief Howard encouraged her and she slowly opened it to reveal the Commander stars. She had tears in her eyes at this point. She had given up on that promotion that was promised to her when she took over the Major Crimes group. So many things had happened over the years and the one person who she wanted there to be present when she was handed those stars was currently waiting to be released from the hospital. "Does my team know yet?" Sharon asked them. "No, we didn't tell them" Chief Howard said. "We were waiting for you to tell them" Mason added as he sat back down behind his desk. She looked at the stars again, her stars, and was in utter disbelief.

"But we understand if you want to hold off alerting your team to your new rank until you share your good news with Lieutenant Flynn, how's he doing by the way?" Mason asked her. "Um, he's recovering well, he should be contacting me soon to let me know what time he's being released this morning from the hospital" Sharon said as she closed the box and held it in her hands. "I'm sure he's not looking forward to desk duty again" Chief Howard said to her. Sharon shook her head. "No he is not" she simply stated as her phone alerted to a text message. She looked at both Chief Howard and now Assistant Chief Mason and they nodded to her to answer her phone.

Sharon pulled her phone out and saw the message from Andy. 'I'm being released officially in an hour. Hope your meeting is going well' his message stated. Sharon took a deep breath as she closed her phone and returned her attention to Howard and Mason. They both watched her as she closed her phone and looked at them. "You're not going to tell him yet?" Mason asked her. "This is something I should tell him in person I think" Sharon answered. "Oh, by the way, I'm giving your team the weekend off, it was Fritz's idea" Mason said to her as he pointed to Chief Howard. Chief Howard just shook his head.

"Well, since our big announcements have been made, I would like to officially meet with you, Commander, Monday morning to discuss my agenda for you and the Major Crimes division" Mason said to Sharon. "Of course" Sharon said to him as Mason stood up. Sharon and Chief Howard both stood up as well and they all shook each other's hands. "Congratulations again" they all said to one another and then Sharon walked out of the office.

She couldn't believe it as she walked out to the hallway. She stopped and leaned up against one of the walls for a moment, she didn't want anyone in her division to see her there. She glanced at her phone again and decided that she would head over right away to get Andy. She made her way down the flight of stairs to avoid anyone she might know in the elevators and made her way to the parking garage back to her car. Once she was inside, she took a deep breath and it finally had sunk in. She was now a Commander, and she smiled at the thought. She couldn't wait to tell Andy and she started the car and drove over to the hospital.

Andy was sitting in the chair in his room, waiting for Sharon to text him back or acknowledge the message he had sent her earlier. He was staring at his phone when Sharon walked into his room. He looked up at her and saw the biggest smile on her face. "Hey, I was waiting for a text from you. How was your meeting?" Andy asked her as he stood up and she walked over to him. "It was surprising to say the least" Sharon said as she gave Andy a hug. "Surprising in a good way I hope" Andy said as he pulled back to look at her. "Oh, most definitely yes" she said to him and pulled him in for a quick kiss.

When she pulled back, she pulled out the small box that Mason had handed to her and showed it to Andy. He took one look at the box and knew she had been promoted to Commander. "You got your promotion!" he said to her, smiling ear to ear, and pulled her in for the biggest hug. "I did" she said to him as he lifted her off the ground. "Ah, Andy! Put me down, you'll hurt yourself" Sharon exclaimed and Andy placed her feet back on the ground. "I'm so proud of you Sharon" he said to her and kissed her again, this time the kiss lingered a little longer.

"Does the rest of the team know?" he asked her as they gathered his things in his bag and waited for the discharge papers. "No, I wanted you to be the first one to know, well besides Chief Howard and Assistant Chief Mason" Sharon said to him. "Oh, so Mason got the Assistant Chief's position. I'm sure Winnie Davis isn't too thrilled about that" Andy said to her. "Oh, well she doesn't know. She's having a meeting with Chief Pope this morning and he's informing her" Sharon said. "I'm sure that's going to go over well" Andy said as the nurse brought in the papers for them to sign.

"Okay, hospital policy Lieutenant, you must ride in the wheelchair when you get discharged" the nurse said to Andy and Andy groaned. "I can walk out of here with no problem" Andy said in return to the nurse. "I know that but it's the rules" the nurse replied and a wheelchair was brought to his room at that moment. Andy looked at Sharon who seemed amused at the sight. "Commander's orders Lieutenant if you know what's good for you" Sharon said to him and Andy smiled. He sat down in the wheelchair and the orderly pushed him as Sharon followed next to him, and carried his bag.

Sharon pulled the car around to the front entrance where Andy and the orderly waited. She opened the passenger side door and the orderly wheeled Andy to the car. He helped Andy stand up from the wheelchair and Sharon held out her hand for him to take. Andy held Sharon's hand as he sat down on the passenger side of the car and she closed the door. She thanked the orderly for his help and walked over to the driver's seat and sat inside the car. "So Commander, where are we going now?" Andy asked her as she started to drive. "Well, news has it that we have the weekend off. However, the rest of the team doesn't know it yet. So, I was thinking that we drive back over to the PAB, stop inside the office for a couple of minutes, tell them the good news and then we head home" Sharon said to Andy as she drove.

"Hmm, well I like the whole idea of going home with you, can we just skip right to that part? I really don't feel like sharing you with anyone else right now" Andy said to her as he watched her drive. "Oh, well I suppose I could compromise with that. How about you text Provenza that you were released this morning and that per Assistant Chief Mason, we have to weekend off so I picked you up from the hospital and we are heading home" she said. "Oh, and let him know that I'll call him later today" she added and Andy texted Provenza exactly what Sharon had said.

Provenza looked at his phone while he was sitting at his desk and saw that it was Flynn. "Flynn's been released from the hospital this morning, that's where the Captain was" Provenza stated to the rest of the team. "And apparently Commander Mason is the new Assistant Chief" Provenza added and there was a delay in everyone's response. "Wait a second, what was that?" Mike said in disbelief. "Mason is the new Assistant Chief" Provenza repeated. "So, the Captain is still with us then" Julio said. "Looks that way, yes" Provenza answered him as he placed his phone back in his pocket and sat back in his chair. He looked over at the Captain's office, glad that he didn't have to move all of his stuff to her office.

Sharon and Andy arrived at home thirty minutes later and Sharon carried his bag in for him. They stopped in the kitchen and Andy grabbed Sharon and held her close to him. "Did I tell you how proud I am of you right now?" he said to her in their close proximity to each other. She smiled at him. "Yes you have but I won't get tired of hearing that" Sharon said to him. Andy smiled and pulled her in for another kiss.

A couple of minutes later, Andy was lying down on the couch and Sharon came over to join him. He pulled her close to him as he settled again. "I don't want to hurt you" she said to him as she laid on top of him. "You won't Commander" he said to her and she shook her head. "How many times are you going to call me that now?" she asked him as he rubbed her back. "Well, it's still early and hard to say" Andy replied to her. She laughed into his chest and she heard him wince. "Are you sure you're okay like this?" she asked him, worried. "Positive, besides I'm right where I want to be" he said to her as he held her close to him. She smiled and laid her head back down on his chest and closed her eyes. They both fell asleep on the couch.

The End


End file.
